At FICUS, one of the first things we worked on was to understand how environment education can move beyond isolated acts of planting trees or setting up school gardens, reminiscent of eco-clubs from the 90's. While these are useful activities for children to carry out, we acknowledged that it sets the bar very low for us as environment educators, and does very little in terms of long term impact if it is the school gardener, ultimately tasked with all the watering and maintenance.
We realized that if environment education was to make any real difference in schools, it needed to be co-created with students and teachers. Co-creation in this context was to make space for informed decisions made collectively, for lived experiences to be expressed and included, and for differing perspectives to be offered a seat at the table.
We attempted this with our Young Scientist Programme in our first year as a registered organization. While it worked wonderfully for the students, it still needed more thinking and designing to bring interested teachers to the fold.
Wipro Earthian Schools Program
The Wipro Earthian Schools program beautifully aligned with what it is we wanted to achieve as an environment education organization. We are beyond grateful to be identified and chosen as a partner organization in bringing this nation-wide program to schools in Chennai.
The program itself is multi-faceted and ensures a well-rounded approach in bringing both students and teachers to the fore.
For teachers : At its core, the program seeks to build a community of interested school teachers trained to understand and facilitate sustainability education through the lens of biodiversity, waste and water management, and to take this to their classrooms. The teacher training is imparted through organizations such as FICUS, which form part of the nation wide Sustainability Educator Network. We are incredibly honoured to be alongside such an impactful list of organizations and educators who are doing phenomenal work across India.
Meeting and working with teachers as we explore together the different aspects of the biodiverse world, partaking in our shared enthusiasm of coming across fresh perspectives to old problems, bearing witness to the challenges of teachers tasked with a formidable to-do list - these are some of the continuously rich and humbling experiences we at FICUS are grateful to be able to hold space for and facilitate for the teaching community.
For students : Once the school teachers are trained and equipped in the different aspects of sustainability education through the Wipro Earthian program, they bring this to the classroom for their students. School teachers facilitate different activities of the program for students under the three themes of Waste, Water and Biodiversity. These activities are designed to connect students to their own environments and landscapes, their communities, histories and shared ecologies.
It sets the stage for in-depth reflection sessions where students and teachers weave together an understanding of what sustainability means to them and the places they find themselves in. The program encourages these reflections to be creatively documented and presented by the students as part of an inter-school competition to inspire healthy peer-learning. It lays the foundation to understand together the larger issues of biodiversity loss, the importance of sustainable livelihoods and the need for community engagement in long-term planning and endeavours.
We are incredibly happy to see our teacher training sessions translate to students taking up ownership and agency of the activities they choose to do in their schools and homes.
For community : The program helps encourage students to look beyond their school walls and invite community narratives to the picture. Students learn to understand the importance and the need for diverse perspectives of the people we share our spaces with. Most importantly, how designing and implementing actually impactful sustainable practices requires the consent and the coordination of community participation.
How to enroll in the Wipro Earthian Schools Program
The program is completely free of cost for all schools who are interested in becoming a Wipro Earthian school. Schools enrolling before the month of August are eligible to participate in the competition component of the program during the current academic year. Schools enrolling after August are eligible to participate in the competition component of the program in the next academic year. If you are a parent, teacher, HM or admin of a school interested in this environment education program which focuses on sustainability, teacher training and community based student activities, reach out to Pritika M of FICUS, the Wipro Earthian Sustainability Educator for Chennai and one of the co-founders of the organization FICUS. You can reach out by calling 9884038989 or by emailing pritika@ficusgroup.org.
You can also enroll in one of the many activities FICUS will be conducting for schools, community learning centers and tuition centers in collaboration with organizations like Inseason Fish, Chennai Climate Action Group, artists like Manikandan Kanchana Sculptures and more!
We are immensely proud of the teaching community along with their students who participated in this year's Wipro Earthian Schools program and competition. Their dedication and hard work are inspiring to say the least and gives us the kind of joyful hope required for the current times we find ourselves in. We look forward to growing our community of schools and invite you on this journey with us at FICUS!
Read our brochure for the Wipro Earthian Schools program inviting schools to join the 2024-2025 batch here.
Comentários