The World Wide Fund for Nature, or WWF for short, has welcomed Singapore schools into its global Eco-Schools programme.

The programme puts students at the heart of environmental education in schools. It gives them a central role in championing the environmental issues which concern them and their communities.

For example, students take on key roles on their own school eco-committee and are heavily involved in decision-making.

Participating schools will be expected to review their environmental performance, develop plans and monitor how they progress. In this way, they can integrate green learning into their own curriculum.

The Singapore chapter of WWF hopes that this will help develop the next generation of stewards of the environment.

It launched the one-year pilot on Wednesday afternoon at the Tampines outlet of Ikea Singapore, which has provided $200,000 funding.

Eight primary and secondary schools, such as Anchor Green Primary School and Nan Hua High School, are involved this time.

Next year, the programme will be open to other schools, including tertiary institutions.

The Eco-Schools Programme began in Denmark, Germany, Greece and Britain in 1994, and today involves more than 40,000 schools in more than 50 countries.

Local success stories include Ixopo Primary in South Africa, which began designing and building solar cookers, and growing vegetables in the school garden to support low-income residents nearby.