The Gobar Times Green Schools Programme

The Green Schools Programme (GSP) was born in 2005 after the Supreme Court made Environment a compulsory subject in schools. GSP institutionalised self-assessment of the environmental practices of schools by its students using the Green Schools Programme Manual—a guide book that explained how to audit natural resources step-by-step. GSP termed this ‘environmental auditing' and expected students to go on an exploratory journey and find out what's happening to the water, energy, land, air and waste in their school campus. The Green Schools Programme Manual is a guide book that explains step-by-step, how to audit natural resources like water, air, energy, waste, and land, within the premises of a school. It introduces a new methodology for assessing the performance of the school community as a manager of these natural resources. It also highlights the significance and relevance of eco-friendly practices, helping students to develop a holistic perspective, and suggests practical, doable mitigation measures. Originally published in English, the Manual has since been translated into Hindi and five regional languages (Kannada, Telugu, Gurmukhi, Urdu, Gujarati) and Arabic. Our second Green Schools Programme Manual ‘How green is my locality?' will be launched soon. Excited? The Green Schools Training Programme: The Environment Education Unit (EEU) conduct a two-day training programme for teachers, educators, students, development workers and essentially all those who are interested in environment education. Participants are guided through different modules of the Green Schools Programme Manual, to enable them to bring about green changes on the school campus and monitor them. Interestingly, the course content has been revised to include examples of green changes that have been brought about by schools that have participated in the GSP so far. The training includes activities, interactive sessions, films and presentations on following issues: Water conservation, Air Pollution, Green Area, Energy conservation, Waste segregation, Rainwater harvesting, Commuting practices, Biodiversity, Renewable energy, Waste reuse/recycle, Sanitation, Oxygen balance, Pesticide use, Climate change, Waste disposal, Water recycling/reuse, Ventilation, Afforestation. Environmental Auditing The audit is an assessment of the environmental practices of schools by its students using the Manual. As part of the process, students get to give a report card (albeit green) to their school on its environmental performance. A refreshing role reversal! The aim of this self-assessment is to enable the school community to understand what can be done to improve their school's environmental performance. For the past five years, thousands of students and teachers from across India have produced environmental report cards of their schools and initiated the process of transforming their schools into Green Schools. The aim is to quantify their achievements, as well as identify shortfalls that require awareness and attention. This methodology aims to monitor four crucial aspects of the environmental performance of the school. These are: - The level of awareness within the school community and the scale of involvement of the its members in the audit process - The quality of the work that has been undertaken - The changes in school policies that have been introduced to improve performance in this area, and - The changes in education policies that have been triggered by the school constituency to mandate incorporation of environmental concerns in the institution. The Green Schools Programme Awards Ceremony is an annual event, where top 25 performers from across the country are rewarded for their enterprise and innovative skills. The objective is to acknowledge the effort, and also to encourage more schools to come forward and take part in this movement. The Awards Ceremony is a grand affair. School children from across the country participate in various competitions, perform street plays, watch films and mingle with each other. Six years after it was established, GSP can proudly say they have more than met their objectives and goals. Today, GSP's presence is pan-India with more than 15,000 schools in the GSP network. The major components of the Green Schools Programme, apart from the manual, are a training workshop, an error-proof audit process, certification and an annual award ceremony, rewarding top 25 performers from across the country for their enterprise and innovative skills. The excitement in and around the programme is growing. A sharper assessment process, an improved training programme, valuable new products and a fresh, enriching website—all are on the anvil. GSP has recently published a stimulating activity book for middle, secondary and senior secondary students, enabling them to learn about environment by engaging in out-of-the-ordinary activities. The second Green Schools Programme manual ‘How green is my locality?' will be launched soon, making it possible for schools to engage their neighbourhood in efforts to save the environment. Programmes like the GSP provide them the platform to express their views, as well as an opportunity to experiment on the ground. GSP track record shows that most of the GSP participants have opted to repeat the audit process year after year. Clearly, the objective has been not just to win a contest, but to gauge if they have been able to improve their score cards and become better managers of environment. This is a very significant trend. It proves that schools, as a community, can play a tremendously important role in bringing about sweeping changes in the lifestyle and psyche of the people. • GSP's primary challenge has been to provide the students an opportunity to learn about environment not by memorizing yet another text book, but by ‘doing'. So during the past years, all those who participated in this programme, came out of the classrooms to do various things—count, weigh, measure, explore, investigate, and analyse. • Through this process, GSP attempts to drive home the message that the connotation of the word ‘environment' is not limited to trees, birds and tigers. It includes all the key components that make up a human being's life and livelihood. • Even though Environment is not yet being taught as a separate subject in most schools across the country, the programme has blended in smoothly with the current curriculum. Teachers, irrespective of the boards they are affiliated to, have adapted the activities suggested in the book as per the prescribed syllabi quite effortlessly. International editions The GSP has been adopted in the school curriculum of Abu Dhabi and Ethiopia. The Manual and the training module have been specially customised for them. While a pilot phase has already been completed in Abu Dhabi, the details of the programme are being finalised in Ethiopia. GSP can be reached via the following postal address: Environment Education Unit Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110062 Phone: 91-11-2995 5124 / 6394 Fax: 91-11-2995 5879 Sumita Dasgupta Programme Director, EEU Mobile: 9811406403 Email: sumita@cseindia.org Ajanta Sikdar Programme Officer, EEU Mobile: 9873926822 Email: ajanta@cseindia.org