Waste is everywhere around us - right from our homes, schools, overflowing bins in streets, water bodies and all other places which we cannot even imagine. Waste has now become a part of our lives. It is so evident that we have stopped noticing it. The impact of waste is now clearly visible on our environment, society and even on our economy. Schools being at core of our societies, it can have big influence on the way we deal with such issues. The young minds at schools can be engaged in learning about environment and sustainability concerns and work towards finding solutions in their own local environment.
Eco Schools is one of such global sustainable schools programme – it starts in the classroom and expands to the community by engaging the next generation in action-based learning. It's an International Certification Programme of the Foundation for Environment Education which is being offered in India since 2014-15 by the Centre for Environment Education to students from the primary school level, for classes 1-5 (6-11 years old).
Looking at the demand of the programme for introducing it to the middle school level, the Eco schools programme is being introduced in India at pilot level to students in the middle school i.e. class 6 to 8, beginning with the core theme of 'Waste'.
The Eco schools Waste Management Programme (EcoWaM) was launched in India in April 2020 beginning with the core theme of Waste Management. The aim of the initiative is to involve middle school students across the country to create leaders, having the awareness, knowledge, commitment and potential to meet the challenges of waste management in their spheres of influence. The EcoWaM is a novel initiative of CEE (Centre for Environment Education) with Bestseller Foundation, FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education).
EcoWaM follows behavior change education pedagogy where the students go through the process of Explore, Discover, Think, Act and Share. Under the core theme of 'Waste', it focuses on five sub themes namely Waste and Nature, Waste - A Problem, Waste and Sustainability, Waste Management, Waste and Handprint. A teacher's module has been developed as a resource guide for school teachers to help them in planning and implementing seven steps methodology for becoming a 'Waste Wise Eco Schools'.
The focus of the programme is to provide guidance to teachers on concepts like ‘there is no such thing as waste in nature’, the importance of perceiving ‘Waste as a resource and of Circular Economy’ in the waste management and is geared to engage and inspire students from classes 6 -8 from State Boards, CBSE, ICSE, International Baccalaureate and others.
Established as a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India.
