|
Cities in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India are
undergoing extremely rapid and uncontrolled urbanization,
and the situation has become particularly alarming over
the last decade. A whole range of environmental issues
linked to this growth process have emerged – loss of natural
habitats and native species; waste management problems;
scarcity of water; pollution of water, land, air and other
resources; and several other pressures linked to this
exponential spurt in the human population of the region.
In recent years, two issues among these have become most
visible – those of water and waste management.
The problems have manifested themselves in repeated
episodes of water scarcity, contamination, failure of waste
management systems, and so on. At the same time, there is
a felt need for re-orienting public attitudes and behaviour
relating to the use and conservation of water, and disposal
and management of wastes, especially domestic/municipal
solid wastes. The general public perception appears to be
that the solutions should be found by the government/
civic/ municipal agencies, and people, while they are
aware of the issues, by and large do not identify their own
role in this.
In this context, an ‘Environment Education and Action
Programme for Schools in the National Capital Region’
was supported by the India-Canada Environment Facility
(ICEF) and implemented by the Delhi office of CEE from
March 2005 to March 2007. The project aimed at creating
awareness and building capacity of teachers and students,
on water conservation and solid waste management in 60
schools from 6 selected cities in Delhi.
Activities
The project activities included setting up of
• rainwater harvesting systems
• facilities for waste paper recycling
• solid waste management through composting
• installation of looms for weaving and producing useful
material from used polybags
Sixty schools from six NCR cities (10 each from Delhi,
Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida)
participated.
This project was an attempt to provide the school
communities a hands-on opportunity for putting good
environmental practices into place, and to practise in
real life at least a part of what the students are taught
in theory related to environmental studies. The idea was
born out of the belief that schools are not just places for
academic pursuit; they are living communities of people
that have the potential to influence thou-sands of families,
neighbourhoods, and society at large.
The work components were carefully designed to ensure
that each partner school would in the long run become
a nucleus of public awareness about water conservation
and waste management issues. At the same time, longterm
assets would accrue to each school, and would be
instrumental in water conservation and waste
minimization.
This project has also led the CEE team to a fairly good
understanding of various requirements in the school system
related to environmental services, namely:
• sanitation (in particular for girls, which is a critical
area and accounts for the large-scale dropout of girl
students around the 10-12 year age bracket);
• water supplies, management, and conservation;
• energy resources and management;
• waste management, minimization, and disposal.
Sharad Gaur |
 |
| A hands-on session with students |
Major Achievements
Rainwater harvesting structures, handmade paper units,
and composting units have been set up at 58 partner
sites (of the 60 sites) and are functioning. Waste-polybag
weaving looms have been set up and made operational at
5 sites, and user groups have been trained.
A bank of resource material has been produced in Hindi
and English, and disseminated among partner institutions
and others users.
Teachers in many schools are using the learnings from the
project to enrich their classroom teaching.Partner schools
have begun more active efforts in minimizing waste,
segregating wastes at source, recovering resources from
waste through recycling and composting, and harvesting
rainwater.
The facilities created under this project are now long-term
assets of the schools and are also visible to the general
public through signage set up at the sites.
 |
Rain water harvesting and compost pit structure under construction at
a school |
The project has had a direct outreach to approximately
15,000 students in 60 partner schools, spread over 6 cities
in the NCR. Core groups of approximately 20 to 50 students
per school have been set up to continue the activities.
Similarly, 120 to 150 teachers, and maintenance staff
of the 60 schools have been covered directly (2-3 nodal
teachers per school), and several hundred more teachers
and school staff indirectly.
Families of the teachers and students, and communities
in the neighbourhoods of the 60 schools have benefited
indirectly through visiting and observing the facilities and
the practices under the project. Linkage with Government
The Departments of Education in the three States involved
(Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana) have been involved right
from the beginning of the project, by way of assistance
in school selection, issue of necessary permissions,
instructions to Principals for ensuring participation, and so
on. Project staff have periodicallygone and briefed them
about the progress in various towns, and some of them
have informally visited the project sites at the partner
schools in their respective towns.
In Delhi, the Department of Environment has taken active
interest by way of advising their Eco Club member schools
to get involved with the CEE-ICEF project, and inviting CEE
to various Eco Club events in Delhi.
The National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi, an institution
under the Ministry of Human Resource evelopment, has
partnered actively with the project. Apart from becoming
a project site, it also hosted the Eco Fair (Eco Mela) in
November 2006.
Sustainability and Replication
All the facilities created under the project are now assets
of the partner schools, and are being managed by them.
Almost all the facilities are free of recurring expenses and
would need only minimal damage repair, which is to be
borne by the partner schools.
CEE has already been receiving numerous requests from
schools for starting similar units and education programmes
there. Most of these requests come as a result of visits
made to the CEE-ICEF partner schools and learning about
the project. CEE is assisting such institutions with its own
resources.
The project experience on the whole is eminently replicable
and can be either scaled up in the same institutions, or carried out to new areas. CEE has been working towards
this and has initiated dialogues with a few agencies to
explore the way forward.
There is an urgent need for the education departments
at city/ state level to incorporate good environmental
practices into their design, planning, construction,
and estate management. It is evident that even small
interventions such as this project can help achieve major
improvements in environmental conditions, while at the
same time resulting in cost savings for the institutions,
departments, and governments concerned. The project has
also helped highlight the need for an integrated approachto these issues, instead of the current policy and practice
of tackling each issue in a piecemeal manner and more in
an emergency-response fashion rather than a long-term,
vision-based planning process.
For more information contact:
Sharad Gaur
Centre for Environment Education
C-40, Ground Floor, South Extension Part 2
New Delhi – 110049
Ph: 011-26262878/ 26262881
Fax: 26262880
E-mail: sharad.gaur@ceeindia.org
|
|
 |
| |
Resource materials in Hindi and English were produced and disseminated to partners
Paper Recycling: Easy do it yourself steps
We all use paper in our day to day life. The use of papers has
increased mainfold over the last few decades in schools, homes
and offices. The use of paper results in generation of large quantity
of waste or used paper. Increasing manufacture of paper poses
a threat to protection of trees as the raw material comes from
tree.
The booket explains manufacturing paper at the cost of environment
and easy ways to reduce, reuse and recycle papers.
 |
Rainwater Harvesting: Easy do it yourself steps
India’s environment witnesses uneven availability of water over
the year. The rainfall comes pouring down for 3-4 months between
June to September. The booklet on RWH explains the importance,
benefits, methods and components of harvesting rainwater
during monsoons. Pictorially it represents materials required for
construction, construction of recharge well and the maintenance of
RWH structures. The last section gives details on how to calculate
volume of rainfall potential of an area.
 |
Composting: Easy do it yourself steps
The composting booklet gives a brief about the quantity of waste
generated, the various categories of wastes and benefits of
composting. In detail it explains wastes that can be composted,
anaerobic and aerobic composting methods and precautions that
need to be followed during composting.
The booklets were brought out under ‘Environment Education
and Action Programme for Schools in the National Capital Region’ programme supported by and in partnership with India Canada
Environment Facility.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
