The Green Taif Association was awarded the Taif Award for Community and Voluntary Work in the Community Initiatives branch for 2025, as the 'Sustainable Schools' initiative won this award, presented by the Governor of Taif, Prince Fawaz bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, within the framework of supporting community initiatives to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Green Taif Association, Dr. Saad Al-Otaibi, stated that the association implemented the 'Sustainable Schools' initiative in 15 schools, and issued a special booklet for the initiative containing 21 criteria for sustainable schools. These criteria were formulated with the participation of experts and specialists in the field of environmental sustainability from academic members of the association, and in accordance with internationally approved standards in this field. Al-Otaibi explained that environmental preservation represents a shared national responsibility, integrating the efforts of government entities, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, in line with the targets of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, launched by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The association implemented this initiative in cooperation with the Education Department in Taif Governorate, as a qualitative community initiative that benefited 7,678 male and female students in 15 schools in Taif Governorate. The initiative included afforestation and implementation of sustainability practices according to the prepared standards. Teachers were trained on the initiative's applications and provided with content for awareness lectures targeting students. To measure the achievement of the initiative's goals, a test was conducted for students before and after implementation. The number of volunteers reached 100, with volunteer hours estimated at 5,000 hours. The initiative comes within the context of 'humanizing schools' and improving the educational environment and level of awareness. The initiative resulted in tangible outputs and a positive impact, most notably developing a sense of collective responsibility among students towards society and the school environment, raising their awareness of the importance of source sorting, recycling, developing vegetation cover, rationalizing energy and water use, and reducing food waste. Students at various academic levels showed great interest in the environment and its preservation. Dr. Al-Otaibi praised their efforts and appreciated the teachers and school leaders for achieving a qualitative shift towards sustainable schools that realize national targets in environmental sustainability. This initiative is a model that the association, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, seeks to apply on a broader scale in the Kingdom's schools to achieve the concept of sustainable schools according to environmental sustainability standards, contributing to the goals of the 'Saudi Green Initiative'.

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