Himachal Pradesh   

Capacity Building Programme for Women

4 June 2007 , Reckong Peo, Distt. Kinnaur, HP

A one day capacity building programme was organized on June 4 at Reckong Peo, District Kinnaur, HP to make the women aware of the global environmental concerns and discuss the local environmental issues on the occasion of World Environment Day. Held at the DC office premise, the programme was attended by above 25 women from 8 villages around Reckong Peo, the district Head Quarter. Most of these women were the leaders of SHG groups formed by Mahila Kalyan Samiti or Mahila Managal Dals of their villages.

The programme began with a self introduction session. Rashmi Gangwar apprised the participants about CEE. Later a presentation was made on the World Environment Day (WED) theme 2007 ‘Melting Ice – A Hot Topic. The relevance of the WED theme in the context of the Himalayan region was discussed. Participants were informed about the concepts like green house effect, global warming and depletion of ice/snow resources of planet and the Himalayas in particular.

This was followed by an open discussion where the participants discussed their local environmental concerns a few of which are – environmental degradation due to upcoming hydro power projects in Kinnaur district, unplanned urbanization, construction of multi storied concrete buildings replacing the original mud and wood houses, unexpected weather disturbances, decrease in forest cover, landslides, use of pesticides in the apple orchards etc. Ms. Rattan Manjari Negi, chair person of Mahila Kalayan Parishad, the leading and well known NGO of the district thanked the district administration for imposing a ban on the use of low grade polythene bags in the area. She expressed worries about the concretization of the area with increasing number of multistoried buildings highly unsuitable for the local climate. Issue of increasing number of vehicles was also discussed.

Speaking on this occasion Abdhesh Gangwar informed the participants about the carrying capacity of the earth and the impact of increasing population and the consumerist life styles. He also apprised the participants about the biodiversity of the earth and the alarming rate at which it was depleting and the subsequent consequences. He emphasized upon the ways necessary for the sustainable development for a better future.

Film “The Last Show on the Earth” was screened on the occasion followed by discussion. The participants were provided with ‘Jangal aur Jan’ and ‘Paryavaran Sarakshan’ publications in Hindi.

Education for a Sustainable Future addressing to High Altitude Environments: A Teacher Training Workshop 

High altitude environments are very important. They are the repository of biodiversity, medicinal plants, most of which are endemic. These areas are the water towers of the world and sentinels regulating climate and causing monsoon rains. These areas are very fragile and need much attention. Only very few locally relevant education material both for teachers and students are available. The teaching methodologies being practiced are still not child centered and therefore are not interesting.

Realising the above challenges and to address to these felt needs, a 2-day teacher training workshop was organized on 6-7 June 2007 for the selected school teachers of Kinnaur district at the Government Degree College, Reckong Peo. The training was organized in collaboration with HP Departments of School Education and Forests. The Department of Education deputed 39 teachers, one from each school for the workshop, most of them the teacher-in-charge of the eco-clubs set up in the schools under the National Green Corps scheme of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.

Potential of eco-clubs in addressing the local environmental issues such as deforestation, use of plastic carry bags, solid waste management, land slides, deforestation, use of pesticides, wildlife was discussed. Methodologies for eco clubs formation and effective running were explained. Using eco-clubs children can be involved in monitoring the quality of local environment and sensitized to environmental protection. Project work done by some of the eco clubs was displayed and shared with other participants.

Alternative teaching learning methodologies like, discussion groups, stories, role plays & dramas, drawing pictures & creative use of blackboards, surveys, experiments & demonstrations, visits & visitors, poems & songs, games etc were discussed. The potential and effectiveness of each alternative approach in various situations was explained. It was emphasized that none of the alternative approaches require any resources or money and can be used with locally available resources. All the approaches are no or low cost. Web of Life, Oh Deer, Who Am I? Pass the Pebble, Needs & Wants, Measuring the Height of a Tree games were played and interpreted. How these games can be modified and used for teaching various concepts/lessons was demonstrated.

Environmental Education in School System (EESS)

Greening of school education

Education in schools made relevant to local environment. Under a World Bank supported ‘Environmental Education in School System’ (EESS) project implemented by the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests and facilitated by CEE text books of three subjects, social science, environmental science and languages of three classes 6-8 to be adapted as Green textbooks that bring surrounding environment into class room teaching. Training imparted to teachers, resource persons and concerned personnel of the education departments like DIETS, SCERTs and State Institute of Education.

Nine green textbooks belonging to three subjects viz. Science, Social Studies and Language for standards 6-8 were greened in the state. Green books were reviewed through workshops.

Teachers’ Handbook

Besides textbooks, a resource book ‘Building Blocks’ for teachers, eco-maps and other teaching aids were developed. Training were organized for master trainers, teachers and other resource persons.

Resource Directory of the Greening of the Textbooks

Greening of the textbooks was an important and exhaustive exercise. It was done through participatory workshops where all the important resource persons were invited and their inputs taken. Many guidelines and some model green textbooks were developed by CEE to help greening committees and the resource persons understand the purpose and concept of greening and contribute in the greening of the textbooks of their state. Many other textbooks, resource material were gathered and consulted. All this material is housed at SCERT, Solan, the nodal agency for EESS in HP. This resource directory is a compilation of all the literature that was consulted, of the names and addresses of the resource persons who have contributed to the greening process or who have potential to contribute to greening process in future, places where teachers can take students out to expose them to various environmental concepts and problems, posts and addresses of the important officials of the State who were stakeholders in the greening process or in bringing about a change in improving the quality of education.

Training Master Trainers

Master trainers workshop was conducted with 3-4 participants coming from each of the 12 DIETs of the State. The workshop made the participants aware about the objectives of the project and effort required at the level of teachers.

Teachers Training Workshops

Twelve workshops one at each DIET were conducted. The 8-day long teacher training was held simultaneously at 12 DIETS. Hundred five schools were selected in the state, instead of 100. From each school 6 teachers were trained making the total number of teachers trained to be 630.

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