Green Practice: Cultivating Change for a Sustainable Tomorrow

In the heart of Sabah's palm oil plantations, where education is often out of reach for the children of undocumented Indonesian migrant workers, a groundbreaking program is rewriting the narrative. The Green Practice initiative, launched by Sekolah Indonesia Kota Kinabalu (SIKK), blends sustainability education, hands-on vocational training, and digital innovation to empower hundreds of marginalized students with the skills and mindset for a better future.

This multidisciplinary education program turns schools into eco-hubs, where students learn by doing: managing food waste, composting with black soldier flies, and cultivating permaculture gardens that supply the school canteen. Through these practical activities, students not only gain valuable skills in culinary arts and agriculture, but also develop ecological literacy and environmental responsibility.

“These students may be undocumented, but they are not uneducated,” says the project team at SIKK. “Education must reach the furthest behind first. That is our guiding principle.”

By integrating green practices into daily learning, the initiative reduces school-generated waste by up to 50%, eliminates plastic waste, and produces 40% of the school’s healthy food supply. Meanwhile, digital tools such as Quizizz and AppSheet have replaced paper-based exams and administration, saving the school over $20,000 annually.

The project also addresses behavioral change through a boarding school model where students are taught discipline, sustainability, and leadership. At the same time, strong collaboration with businesses, local communities, and the Indonesian government ensures that the impact goes beyond the school walls.

Over the past decade, more than 5,000 students from this network have pursued scholarships in Indonesian universities-and even internationally. The program’s future lies in its scalability, with plans to expand the model to 235 Community Learning Centers across Sabah and Sarawak.

In a region where children are often pulled out of education to work in the plantations, Green Practice stands as a beacon of possibility—offering dignity, knowledge, and hope through the power of sustainable education.

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