Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) - EE in Higher Education

• RCE Lucknow

CEE North, in partnership with eight organisations, has established an RCE network on ESD in Lucknow, with the key areas of focus on biodiversity conservation and school education programmes. The target groups for these activities are students, teachers, NGOs, communities, youth, etc. CEE North, as the nodal point for RCE Lucknow, initiated the following ESD activities with its RCE partners.

• School events based on various environment related themes were organised with students and teachers from various schools of Lucknow participating.
• Biodiversity focused ESD initiatives were carried out in Uttar Pradesh with the help of formal education institutions such as the University of Lucknow and non-formal education institutions like the UP State Biodiversity Board, Education and Forest Departments, schools, scientific institution, Lucknow Zoo, etc.
• CEE North hosted interns from the University of Lucknow who worked on various ongoing programmes.
• A session on Environmental Education was conducted for students of the diploma programme in Wildlife Sciences of the University of Lucknow. As part of RCE Lucknow activities, CEE developed a two-day module for conducting sessions on EE, covering the need and scope, target audience and techniques. Various classroom and outdoor sessions were held during the module.

Interaction with RCE Western Sydney : A two member faculty team from RCE Western Sydney visited Lucknow in September to discuss a project to visit locations where biodiversity focused programmes are being taken up with the indigenous community. The team met with RCE partners, and visited Suhelwa Sanctuary and met members of the Tharu tribe. The team also visited a Paryavaran Mitra school in Lucknow and interacted with the students. After discussions, a study visit of students from Western Sydney University has been finalised and planned for the coming year.

• RCE Srinagar Activities

Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on ESD

RCE Srinagar participated in the Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on The Global Action Program (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development and Cities which was held in New Delhi, India from November 28-30, 2017, in partnership with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. More than 50 resource persons/experts and city representatives participated in the workshop. The workshop helped to identify key opportunities for regional cooperation and introduced and promoted policy and action plans. It facilitated the sharing of good practices and policies in urban contexts relevant for the region and also provided an opportunity for relevant local stakeholders to develop new partnerships and initiate regional cities networks.

The 9th Tongyeong ESD International Forum ‘Sejahtera Forest for All’, 2017

The ‘Tongyeong Education Foundation for Sustainable Development’ and RCE Tongyeong invited Dr. Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar, Programme Director, CEE, as a key note speaker, to deliver a talk on DRR preparedness, role of youth, and local governance at the 9th Tongyeong ESD International Forum ‘Sejahtera Forest for All on December 12-13, 2017, at Tongyeong, Republic of Korea. Dr. Gangwar shared his experiences with DRR preparedness, reviewed the role of Sejahtera Forests as an ESD platform and shared his thoughts on how to make a better society through ESD and strengthen the RCE network for ESD in the Asia Pacific region including possibilities of collaboration amongst RCEs of India as well as Asia Pacific.

CEE and RCE Srinagar have been actively involved in creating awareness about the environment and sustainable development through formal and informal learning with curriculum based activities. RCE Srinagar is working to promote joyful method of teaching and learning in 2500 schools of Baramulla District, Jammu and Kashmir and 50 schools of Uttarkashi District, Uttarakhand, focusing on the issues of disaster risk reduction, climate change and sustainable mountain development. CEE Himalaya and RCE Srinagar have also constructed eight sustainable model schools named Anandshalas (Joyful School) in Uri tehsil of Baramulla District, post Kashmir Earthquake 2005. These schools enrich education by linking classroom teaching with the outside environment. Students are involved in different activities - gardening, bird watching, flora and fauna species identification, eco-camps and yoga, apart from the regular school curriculum. In addition to this, CEE India and RCE Srinagar have been contributing towards Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by organising international and national workshops, ESD forums, programmes and other activities.

Workshop on ‘Writing Research Proposals, Papers and Grant Applications for Social Science Faculty and Researchers’

The Department of Economics, University of Jammu, RCE Jammu and RCE Srinagar jointly organised a one-week training workshop on Writing Research Proposals, Papers and Grant Applications for Social science Faculty and Researchers in which nineteen young researchers participated

Reorienting School Education for Tribals in Jammu and Kashmir, India: A Consultation Workshop

CEE Himalaya participated in a one-day consultation workshop on ‘Reorienting School Education for the Tribals in Jammu and Kashmir’, organised by the Department of Economics, University of Jammu in collaboration with RCE Jammu. Mr. Balbir Ratan, Vice Chairman, Jammu & Kashmir Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation was the Chief Guest of the event. The other dignitaries who were part of the workshop included Dr. Kavita Suri, Director Department of Lifelong Learning; Dr. Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar, Regional Director, CEE and RCE Srinagar; Dr. C.M Seth, Director, CEET; Dr Javed Rahi, Chief Editor, J&K Academy of Arts, Culture and Language; Mr. R.L Gupta, Joint Secretary Jammu & Kashmir Board of School Education and Mr. S.M Sahni of J&K Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).