SCHOOL PROGRAMME
Shaping the future for our Youth

Eco Friends in the course of its fight for a pollution free Ganga has forged several mutually enriching environmental partnerships with schools in the city.

Our aim has been to facilitate the creation of innovative extra curricular spaces in schools. We believe that the school children would get charged and refreshed if appropriate tools of engagement are provided in a participative framework. Also, we invest in the valuable future of our children by preparing their minds for the challenges ahead.

We also publicize the efforts of schools and school children through our newsletters, reports, websites and the media so that due recognition and encouragement is provided to all the participants in the process.

We welcome inter school collaboration both at the national and international level. Sharing of experiences between children across boundaries would lead to new insights and new actions to save the environment. Eco Friends is exploring such exchanges between schools at every level thereby multiplying learning opportunities.

There are different elements to our School Programme.

Eco Clubs

Eco Friends facilitates the creation of Eco Clubs in schools around which year round environmental related activities could be organised. Each Eco Club has selected teachers and students in charge leading it on a rotation basis. As per convenience

 and availability of space schools are requested to pick and choose from a host of activities suggested below:
  • Greening of schools
  • Greening of neighbourhood and tree adoptions
  • Green Celebrations (Earth Day, World Environment Day, World Water Day, Wild Life week, National Environment Month and others)
  • Green Bulletin Boards
  • Green Walks
  • Green Camps during summer holidays
  • Green contests such as debates, symbols/slogans/posters, song poems, film scripts, green modeling and so on
  • Role playing games such as Eco Courts and Eco Parliament

Eco Friends also regularly conducts interactive programmes at schools in order to create awareness about the state of Ganga at Kanpur as also elicits the opinion of schools children about their role in stopping further pollution of the river.

Eco Workshops

Eco Workshops combine field site visits where school children experience actual state of river Ganga with respect to the nature and extent of environmental pollution and then offer their own solutions to address the issue. Thematic group discussions and brainstorm sessions are encouraged as methodologies for arriving at solutions. The entire workshop is conducted by facilitators with the help of participating schools.

 The basic idea is to sensitise and motivate school children and teachers to take a proactive stance on the issue of pollution on Ganga. Outstanding participants shall be identified as Ganga Ambassadors to carry forward the message of stopping the pollution of Ganga in their families, neighbourhoods and peer groups in other schools. The First Eco Workshop is being organised on 23-24 October, 2002 at the premises of the Methodist High School Kanpur. Besides identifying Ganga Ambassadors, at the end of the Workshop, Eco Friends shall present a certificate to all participants (see reports).

Ganga Ambassadors

Eco Friends is in the process of identifying outstanding school children and declaring them as Ganga Ambassadors. Ganga Ambassadors shall further aid in generating awareness amongst fellow students in different about the urgent need to act for stopping pollution of the river. All Ganga Ambassadors are being presented with an attractive ECO FRIENDS GANGA AMBASSADOR badge.

Eco Friend of the Year Award

Steps to initiate an Eco Friend of the Year Award are being taken in three categories, one each for the outstanding student, teacher and school that has led from the front in promoting a culture of environmentally friendly outlook and lifestyle.

The award would be decided by a jury of eminent persons. The criteria for the same would be the activities performed by Ganga Ambassadors and Eco Clubs. Entries are being invited from all interested schools.

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