While attending the Eco-School, the students will gain the current knowledge about energy saving, climate changes, biodiversity, and interrelations in nature through the tabletop and active environmental games.  They will learn the fundamental principles of project management and develop eco-projects for their schools.

Those wishing to join the project need to submit an individual application for participation, and later, at their discretion, create a team of school activists, undergo all learning stages, do team homework and submit the environmental project to participate in the competition.

Training sessions will be held remotely. The students will have an opportunity to attend 12 lecture sessions, pass check-up tests and send us the homework. In addition, the interesting webinars involving the best environmental experts of Ukraine will be organized during the academic year.

The financial support will be provided by JSC “Farmak” to three best eco-projects from schools for their implementation. All participants will be awarded presents and certificates from the organizers.

“Farmak has been implementing the Eco-School project for two consecutive years. During this period, the Eco-School has proved its efficiency. More than 200 students from Kyiv and Shostka were trained and changed their attitude to the environment. They became the ambassadors of environmental culture in Ukraine. Now we want to give such opportunity to all Ukrainian schoolchildren. That’s why Eco-School is becoming available online. Everyone will be able to learn about the current environmental situation and ways to improve their life, school, city, Ukraine. Environmental friendliness has already become a global trend through introducing energy-saving technologies, refraining from using plastic, using alternative energy sources. Farmak as the European company also adheres to the principles of sustainable development. We make the treatment with effective medicinal products possible. We take care of reducing the environmental impact and we are doing our best to improve the environmental situation in Ukraine”, said Olena Zubareva, Head of External Communications Department of JSC “Farmak”.

Information on the project

The pilot project “Eco-School” was successfully implemented in Shostka, where the API Manufacturing Department of JSC “Farmak” is located. 9 municipal schools joined the project. Within the framework of the project, 8-11 grade students completed 8-month training program on global theoretical environmental issues and learned how to use the gained knowledge in practice. The best projects aimed at solving the environmental problems of a particular school were awarded mini-grants by JSC “Farmak” for their implementation. The successful launch of the Eco-School project makes it possible to expand it to various parts of Ukraine, involving drivers of the environmental education movement, socially responsible business and, most importantly, non-indifferent, progressive youth of the country. In 2018, the Eco-School project became one of the top 20 social projects in Ukraine.

In 2019, Farmak expanded the Eco-School project and involved 10 schools in Kyiv. A unique manual that embraces the most crucial and important issues the world faces today has been developed for students. The manual “Eco-School” has been approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

On May 22, the students of ten schools in Shostka presented their eco-projects aimed at preserving natural resources and saving funds of the educational institutions. The best of them were awarded mini-grants from Farmak JSC for the implementation of their projects.

The Eco-School project has been implemented by Farmak JSC in cooperation with NGO Ukrainian Ecological Club Green Wave.

The places were shared as follows:

1st place: Shostka Gymnasium – “Upcycling of Organic Waste”. The organic waste fermentation system in the form of a mini worm factory will be set up in the territory adjacent to the educational institution.

Shostka Educational Complex: Specialized School of І-ІІ Levels – Lyceum with the project “Vermicompost”. A thermal compost bin for recycling organic waste and producing vermicompost, which is a fertilizer for plants, will be purchased for the school.

2nd place: Shostka Sports Boarding Lyceum – “Wasted water could make a river”. The project involves saving water through the installation of economizer-mixer tap aerator. This makes it possible to reduce water consumption by 50%.

3rd place: Shostka Comprehensive School of І-ІІІ Levels No. 8 – “Bright School”. More modern, environmentally friendly, energy-saving LED lamps will replace the existing incandescent bulbs. Due to this, electricity consumption in the educational institution can be reduced by 7 times.

The winners were determined by the competition commission consisted of: Pavlyk Pavlo, Director of Operations of Farmak JSC; Zubareva Olena, Head of Corporate Communications Department of Farmak JSC; Khalaim Oleksandra, candidate of biological sciences, Head of NGO Ukrainian Ecological Club Green Wave; Symonets Natalia, Chief of Industrial Wastewater Treatment Station of Farmak JSC; Kunytsia Zinaida Mykhailivna, chief specialist of the education department of Shostka City Council; Korniienko Serhii Volodymyrovych, Director of Shostka Station for Young Naturalists; Panchenko Serhii Mykhailovych, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Scientific Department of Hetman National Nature Park.

“The scope of modern youth’s thinking is impressive. There is no doubt that by uniting and getting necessary knowledge and experience, the young generation will be able to save our land, making human life on earth effective and rational. As one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine, we are primarily concerned with three things: Human health – we produce various high-quality and effective medicinal products designed to help people. The development of our country and society – we pay taxes, improve technologies, innovate, develop our employees and support society. Ecology – by expanding production, we minimize the environmental impact using state-of-the-art technologies and equipment. After gaining knowledge within the framework of the Eco-School project, students’ life has changed forever. All their further decisions will be made on the basis of this knowledge. Therefore, we can forget the worries about the future of our planet, because neither of them will cut down the forest or litter the ocean with tons of plastic. We won’t waste drinking water and pollute the water bodies”, said Pavlo Pavlyk, Director of Operations of Farmak JSC.

However, all projects are useful and important. For example, the team of School No. 6 presented the environmental project involving the repair of a greenhouse located in the territory of the educational institution. According to the team member Maksym Derunov, the schoolchildren want to make a comfortable nature study corner, where they can have a rest. The schoolchildren plan to plant thermophilic exotic plants, grow vegetables and fruits for the school cafeteria in the greenhouse. Meanwhile, the students of School No. 5 proposed to organize separate collection of solid household waste: paper, plastic, glass. They estimated that 3-4 tons of garbage are produced during the academic year.

In addition, as part of defense of projects, the anthem and the emblem of Eco-School were chosen. Their authors received valuable gifts from Farmak.

Farmak has been implementing the Eco-School project in Shostka for the second consecutive year, and this year the project has expanded to the territory of Kyiv. Eco-School will continue to spread all over Ukraine.

It should be reminded that Farmak JSC expanded the boundaries of the Eco-school project by having involved 10 schools of Kyiv. The project starts in January 2019 and will last 9 months. During their studies at Eco-school, schoolchildren will gain new knowledge about environmental problems, ways to solve them and basics of project management. Having obtained theoretical and practical knowledge, schoolchildren will develop eco-projects for their schools. The best of them will receive mini grants from Farmak JSC for their implementation.