Today, I held a live webinar with the nodal officers of government schools in Mohali (SAS Nagar) district. The District Education Officer, Ms Ginni Duggal, led the meeting. Dr Puran Singh and Dr Naresh Kumar, both experts in solid waste management, also joined us.
I gave a detailed presentation on the Sustainability Leaders Program, which aims to teach students about sustainable practices in solid waste management. We also discussed how students can play an important role as ‘sustainability leaders’ in waste management.
We discussed the meaning of Sustainability which in simple terms refers to our capability to continue doing things to fulfil our needs in such a way that we do not reduce or compromise the opportunities for the future generations. Similarly, sustainable waste management is to dispose of waste in such a way that it does not harm our environment and ecosystem. The best way to achieve it is to follow the 5Rs, that is, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover and Refuse.
The Sustainability Leaders Program is a 4-8 weeks structured internship program designed for Grade 8th -12th students. It recognizes the potential impact of involving students to sustain source segregation of waste. The curriculum has been designed as a 4-week beginner’s program followed by a 4-week Advanced program with a time commitment of 2 hours per week.
In the beginner’s program, students will participate in live webinars on waste management and sustainable practices. They will also go on field visits to waste management facilities like door-to-door segregation efforts, material recovery facilities, and how to dispose of cow dung and construction and demolition waste.
In weeks 3 and 4 of the beginner’s program, students will choose some mission-based challenge and express it innovatively through essays, stories, posters, presentations, or speeches. They will also share their personal growth through the program.
In the advanced program, the top 100 students will be selected and will learn about ecosystem mapping, stakeholder analysis, and pitching practical solutions in the form of presentations. Through this program, the students will develop a deeper connection to the cause of waste management and become responsible citizens who will sustain the practice of segregation at the source.
While the first phase of the program has been kept simple, I shared my aspirations for the program as different examples of challenging missions that we can have in the next phases of this program, once we see how well the Mohali edition goes. For example, an exercise of looking at waste management activities from a business perspective – recognizing the key partners, activities, value propositions, customers, cost-revenue streams. Another fun activity could be on how to pitch your proposal for funding. For example, I asked Elon Musk, whose company Tesla is designing Electric vehicles, to design and sponsor compartmentalized electric carts for waste collectors. Finally, students could create an ecosystem mapping laying details of all the solid waste management activities and the various stakeholders involved.
Overall, this structured educational program nurtures skills and enhances the knowledge of students. We provide all online resources through our website, which is dynamic in nature. Student works can also be displayed on the website. Students will be awarded points after each week’s progress and the school gains collective points and can win ‘the Sustainability Leader school of the year’.
I displayed the simple online student registration form on our website and elaborated on waste types and sustainable waste management practices. Dr Puran Singh and Dr Naresh Kumar further elaborated on the program execution aspects.
The nodal officers were very interested in the program and expressed their appreciation for it. They assured me that they would encourage high student participation from their schools. I am looking forward to interacting with the students next week.
Sharing link of our webinar:
well done