The Environment education programme

Teachers workshop in progress...

CSE’s non-formal education programme for children began with the publication of storybooks on the environment based on real-life stories. From these small beginnings, CSE set up a formal unit to undertake activities addressing students and teachers consistently. In 1998, it began the publication of a children’s newsletter, Gobar Times. Several other educational workshops for students and teachers were also organised. In 2005, CSE changed the way it undertook education programmes in a way that the task of educating students can be taken up by teachers. The programme, called the Green Schools Programme, is a rating programme that enables teachers, students and the school management authorities to get involved in the task of contributing to bettering environmental management in schools. It is designed to catalyse educators, students and school managements to collectively take positive measures to improve their environmental performance. The programme has two components – a Green Schools’ Manual, that enables schools to audit their performance in management of natural resources within their own premises and a training module for teachers, that provides step-by-step guidance on how to use the manual

In the first phase, CSE trains teachers from participating schools to audit their schools on different environmental parameters and how to improve the management in the schools. This training programme is done through a manual, which the teachers can then use to train students. In the second phase, CSE assesses the performance of the schools, which have implemented the programme. In order to conduct the assessment, CSE has set up a web-based data management system and helps schools to compile and present their data on the progress. The rating is done on how much improvements schools have made and how effectively they ensure the participation of students and managements.

Gov. Sr. Sec. School, Boormajra, Ropar district, Punjab receiving the award

The first Green Schools Award ceremony was organised on November 27, 2006, which was attended by over 500 persons. Professor Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, gave away the prizes to the top 20 performers, hailing from different corners of the country. A photo gallery and five exhibit stalls were set up to showcase all the behind-the-scenes actions that had taken place in various schools while the first batch of Green Schools students did their audit.