A Key to Healthy Existence sponsored by The Ministry of Human Resource Development through The East West Educational Society - Prativesh, The Nodal Agency
Lives Touched
2005 - 2006
Chatra Gram Panchayat, Baduria Block, North 24 Paraganas, West Bengal
The Story
Environmental education develops skills, knowledge and values that promote behaviour in support of a sustainable environment. It is not confined to formal schooling. It also occurs in a wide range of non-formal education settings at school and at home. While parents create an overall reference frame at home through their daily practices, schools can supplement a home and teachers can nurture and nourish them further through a structured and systematic interactive procedure.
With this reference in the backdrop, INSPIRATION partnered East West Education Society – Prativesh in undertaking a programme for the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The project has been based on a two-pronged approach –
- Development of knowledge, skills and values through action and directed engagement rather than just curriculum formatted education
- Development of the child and parent to community linkage in order to handle the issue in totality.
The programme had been undertaken in two categories of schools – the primary and secondary with different domains of operation and activity approaches.
In the primary schools the domain of activity and intervention had been- the Self and the School Environment different interactive and participatory tool.
- Interactive story telling session
- Environmental Quiz Programme and other competitions
- Selection and action by Environment Soldiers
- Environment rally in the villages
Secondary School children were sensitized and trained to be Change Agents for the community at large .
Naity High School
The Laboratory for Environmental Education Experiments at High School
Activities Undertaken
- Arsenic mitigation through training of High School Students
- Participatory environmental mapping involving the guardians (community members) and students
- Stocktaking of household level functions, which have a direct bearing on the environment
- Designing people’s approaches for preventing environmental malaise at the community level
- Organizing an environmental fair and camp in the school where other schools participated
Key Outcomes
- Students oriented on environmental conservation and preservation and student soldiers active to make small changes in their micro environment including
- Students and Teacher oriented on Water Safety particularly on arsenic contamination which was unknown to the students and community
- Senior student exposed to methods of arsenic testing
- Child to Parent communication on micro –environmental management initiated
- Environment a priority at the School and Household