A hundred primary and secondary schools in Chile are applying to obtain environmental certification through a government project launched Apr 22, in honor of Earth Day. The National Environmental Certification System for Educational Establishments aims to improve the school community's relationship with its surroundings and to promote learning processes related to sustainable development, according to the National Environmental Commission.

The program was officially presented at a primary school in the municipality of Pudahuel, one of the poorest in the Santiago metropolitan region.

Another of the objectives is to strengthen the educational community through “development of autonomy, associative capacity and integrational vision of the role of the schools as an actor in local environmental management.”