Argentina Escuelas Azules
The National Coordinator for Argentina was officially established in 2021.
Number of Schools Involved: 59 in 2025 – 80 in total during the existence of the program
Number of Teachers Engaged: 150
Number of Students Impacted: 8000
Description
In a country with a long coastline but not that much ocean culture, the biggest achievement of our country’s blue schools was to incorporate the ocean in their activities and to build bonds with their communities to put ocean culture in practice. Students of all regions carried out activities with measurable impacts such as beach clean ups and building of natural barriers to prevent coastal erosion but they also took their message of conservation and sustainability to the media, social networks and other students.
The projects included innovative ideas across all disciplines from a buoy that collects oil spills to a sculpture built with recycled beach litter that also works as a collection point for recyclable items for the school’s neighborhood.
History of success
The most recent success was achieved by IPEM 288 José Hernández school of Río Tercero (Córdoba). Under the premise that any impact on their river and levee can eventually reach the ocean, this school reached a series of agreements with local businesses to collect recyclable materials that the businesses can use. This way they avoid extracting as much local resources and polluting the river bed. The school also carried out exhaustive beach clean ups on their river motivating the rest of their community to join in. They also measured hydrological variables at different points to evaluate river health and presented those measurements to the province Hydrology authorities. For their projects the school was highlighted by the Environment and Education provincial ministries.
“The opportunity to involve our students in concrete actions of conservation an environmental education is really enriching. Watching them being empowered to lead meaningful changes in the plastic pollution of our coastline is inspiring.” - Ileana Ríos. Teacher, Escuela de la Costa No 1720, Puerto Madryn, Chubut.
“Being a Blue School allowed us to find an aim for our school’s Environmentalist Club. Teachers of every subject helped us in organizing an art exhibition about the ocean where kids of all ages participated. Now we are planning a science fair. It’s a very interesting experience and many of us are considering scientific degrees because of it. We find the research done in Argentina really interesting.” - Luana, Student, Instituto Peralta Ramos, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires.
