The Canopy | February 2022 by Wipro Foundation

The Canopy OUR SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION STORIES

February 2022, Volume 1, Issue 3 Photo: Kaksar High School, Kargil 2021

Table of Contents School

Op-Ed: Naveen Namboothri, Director, Dakshin Foundation

Spotlight: Dr. Amales Mishra

Recounting a special memory

College

Op-Ed: Rama Mohana R Turaga, Associate Professor, Public Systems Group, IIM Ahmedabad

Spotlight: School of Sustainability, XIM University, Bhubaneshwar

Programmatic Updates

Talking Sustainability: Center for Environmental Education Feature: A Case for Environmental Education in Ladakh

Highlights

28 What's New

Dispatches from the field

Continuous Engagement Program

37 Interesting Reads

38 Upcoming Events

Sustainability Educator Network

Editorial While the world around us still recovers from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has forced us to revisit and re-imagine forms of engagement and communication with all hues of stakeholders. In many ways, it has allowed us to step outside our bubbles and immerse ourselves in others’ experiences and stories. This change in perspective has had an impact on us as a program too. While the first two issues of ‘The Canopy’ sought to share our own sustainability stories, we have now changed course to bring you stories, reflections and experiences from the larger sustainability education landscape. As a program that seeks to evangelize sustainability education, it is imperative that we use this platform to curate discussions, feature change makers and their work, invite critical analysis of key issues, and open up the niche world of sustainability education to our readership. Going forward we will feature a mix of op-eds, interviews, partner features and programmatic updates that will form the base for emergent, multiple narratives in this key domain.

Each issue will now feature one key discussion theme, for the school and college ecosystems each. For this issue, we keep our focus on two themes - ‘Ecological literacy’ in schools and ‘Hiring for sustainability- the push and pull factors’ for colleges.

n this issue, we attempt to present some of the work and critical insights that a give us a glimpse into the different perspectives that underpin the idea ecological literacy in India. From the recently held COP26 to local environmental campaigns/challenges, the youth have found a much larger voice and have begun to shape narratives. As the pressure to find systemic sustainable solutions builds now more than ever, there is a need to re-evaluate the way in which sustainability education is approached in schools. This is also an attempt to address the constraints faced by educators and teachers due to the lack of access to quality resources, and to bridge the disconnect between sustainability and other disciplines.

earing the above in mind we asked ourselves the following- What does it mean to be ecologically literate? Is the environmental education curriculum taught in schools today, good enough to equip our children with the changing climate realities on the ground? Does it address their emotional and social needs? Is it designed to help children use critical thinking and act with empathy while looking for solutions? How are environmental organisations collaborating with schools to address some of the gaps?

To address these, we turn to organizations and educators, with whom we have engaged over the past decade and who have been at the forefront of Sustainability Education in India, to share their experiences and perspectives on this theme. Moving on and looking at the higher education ecosystem, the last decade in particular has brought sustainability back to the forefront. Bleak climate forecasts, the increasing frequency of climate related natural disasters and the realization that this sequence of events is fast outpacing our ability to respond and adapt have also spurned a frenzied move to switch to sustainable practices and globally binding commitments.

he goings-on at the recently concluded COP26 serves as a stark reminder of what lies ahead and the course correction that is needed. With this forming the backdrop- the corporate sector, civil society, governments, and individual practitioners have accelerated their journeys in their transition to adopt and evangelize more sustainable practices.

A positive change ushered in by this is the creation of diverse employment opportunities in the field of sustainability- in corporate sustainability, consulting, social enterprises, the start-up ecosystem, civil society and government institutions. However, has this new opening up of the sector translated into an abundance of opportunities, and have higher education institutes across disciplines been able to adapt to this change? How has this impacted the creation of new courses and new pedagogies? It is unresolved questions such as these that we seek to explore through the lens of a diverse set of stakeholders and shed some light on the latest developments.

long with these key discussions and perspectives we will continue to bring you updates from our ongoing programs and engagements. We hope you find the following reads enriching and of value. Feedback on this new format and our overall programs is welcome from our readers. We look forward to reaching newer audiences and continue to work with our existing partners to further strengthen and grow our programs in the field of sustainability education.

School Op-Ed: Naveen Talking Namboothri, Director, Sustainability: Dakshin Foundation Center for Environmental Education

Spotlight: Dr. Amales Mishra

Recounting a special memory

Feature: A Case for Environmental Education in Ladakh

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Are we getting it right?

Op-Ed Re-imagining Environmental Education for the Global South Naveen Namboothri, Director, Dakshin Foundation Back in 1977, when I was about a year old, the world’s first intergovernmental conference on Environmental Education was organised by the UNSECO. Sixty-six nations met at Tbilisi, currently the capital of Georgia, to chalk out a declaration on Environmental Education. The declaration identified the need for environmental education to “foster positive patterns of conduct towards the environment and the nations’ use of their resources”.

hough a clear definition for Environmental Education was not presented in the declaration, it laid out the scope of EE and some of the values and standards it should aspire for. It identified that contemporary environmental issues are “not just of biological or physical nature, but complex problems that extend to the ethical, social, cultural and economic dimensions of humankind”. Environmental education was identified as a multi-disciplinary pedagogy which was experiential and theoretical at the same time. That EE should be reflective, iterative and inclusionary. It should focus as much on values and attitudes as much as on knowledge, technology and problem-solving skills. It aimed to connect textbooks with the lived lives of students and adults alike. It was not meant to prescribe solutions, but rather facilitate individual and collective problem-solving skills.

Fourty four years later, EE is now part of most school curriculum in India and an integral focus of most environmental NGOs. Environmental issues are increasingly included in economic, development and welfare planning and becoming central to many rightsbased movements, However, have we been able to retain the vision and values with which EE was conceived at the Tbilisi meeting been achieved over the decades? Unfortunately, the collective imagination and narrative about how environment should be viewed (and more importantly not viewed) has seen a large transition in the following decades. The most popular narrative that predominantly started from the West is of viewing Nature as inviolate, pristine spaces that needs to be kept away from humans and preserved solely for its ecological and aesthetic values. Popular and powerful media channels and their aesthetically pleasing documentaries promote such an exclusionary view of nature that is devoid of any human presence, except perhaps that of the intrepid superstar narrators. It is no surprise that such narratives drive EE both in the formal and non-formal education systems. Afterall, the environmental conservation discourses are set by the urban, elite conservationists who subscribe to such worldviews. Contemporary EE is often prescriptive, promotes exclusionary worldviews, does not connect to the lived lives of local communities, provides no opportunities for children to contextualise and apply this knowledge in their day-to-day lives and often remains abstract concepts. It fails to acknowledge that a large part of the population in our country still has strong cultural, sentimental and utilitarian associations with nature (not always destructive). Current EE paradigms fail to identify these strong humannature interrelationships and often vilifies them. Such worldviews based on the aesthetic and biodiversity values alone are often at odds with the lived lives of marginalised local community members.

The perils of borrowed wisdom EE, or for that matter education in general needs to be made more contextual, place-based and connectable to the learner. EE should stop being prescriptive and assume that science-based approaches and appropriate technologies can resolve all the world’s problems. While contemporary science has helped greatly improved our understanding of nature and its workings, it cannot only focus on furthering the human nature disconnect.

It should also focus on cherishing mankind’s existing connections and engagements with nature. In instances where such interdependencies are minimal or non-existent (such as in urban settings), it should aim at rebuilding mankind's connections with nature. It is about developing future generations of ecologically and environmentally sensitive individuals who understand and appreciate not just the aesthetics and functions of biodiversity and ecosystems but also acknowledge and appreciate the utilitarian relationships that humans have forged with nature since existence. Such knowledge should be underpinned by values of rights, justice, and equity. At Dakshin Foundation, an environmental orgnanisation that I have been involved with since its inception, we actively support the communities’ right to live and harvest resources sustainably. We believe that local communities, out of their dependence on nature, has incentives in sustaining it and being their stewards. We believe in providing more agency and powers to communities in manging and sustainably using resources. We believe in nurturing the organic connectedness between the environment and local communities and embed values of sustainability and encourage environmental stewardship at the grassroots. We focus on connecting the existing curriculum with the local contexts and the lived lives of children - in short, we aim to make education place-based and relevant to their day-to-day lives.

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Developing a curriculum for EE Dakshin Foundation’s materials are aimed at making EE more place-based and locally relevant, to help in making learning a lot more contextual to their geographies. Often, they focus on the local ecologies, the cultural and livelihood connections with the local environment, and so on. Such information is often used by schools or nature educators depending on their needs. One of our major interventions has been in the development and production of the third edition of Treasured Islands (TI), an environmental handbook/ manual for teachers in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands(ANI), along with the Andaman Nicobar Environment Team, and Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology. The first edition of this book was designed by Kalpvriksh (lead by Sunita Rao) and ANET in 1996 . TI serves as a beautiful, comprehensive resource book for context-specific environmental education in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands within the framework of the school curriculum. The third version of TI was put together after a circular was issued by the Directorate of Education in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that made environmental education mandatory in all schools using Treasured Islands as a resource. The Directorate of Education was supportive of the Foundation’s working on an updated third edition. Various expert committees were appointed to review the book and approvals were provided. However, the struggle has been to get the department to formally partner in the production and recommend the book to schools in the ANI.

Challenges to implementing a robust EE subject in India Since the Supreme Court of India made EE a mandatory part of mainstream curriculum in 2010, there have been arguments about whether EE should be a stand-alone subject or a subject that is infused or integrated into other disciplines. While philosophically I would lean towards infusion of the subject into the various disciplines, the devil is always in the details. When it comes down to implementing the curriculum on the ground, I feel both approaches have major logistical and implementation level challenges. Furthermore, not all teachers are familiar with the concepts and theoretical underpinnings of the subject. The already overburdened teachers often find such additions cumbersome and problematic. There needs to be a comprehensive assessment of the implementation

challenges at a classroom level and better robust implementation strategies need to be worked out. Secondly, developing a well-balanced and locally relevant EE curriculum is probably the easiest part. How this content reaches the learner and how they internalise and engage with the content entirely boils down to the classroom sessions where the teachers have a huge role in imparting such knowledge and values to the children. India has one of the largest education systems in the world and there are more than 1.5 million schools and 10 million teachers spread across the country in different geographies with diverse social, economic and development backgrounds. Implementing a new subject at these scales will never be an easy proposition. The third and most critical issue facing EE is that it does not get the kind of recognition and traction in the formal education space. It is not viewed as an applied subject along the lines of science and math with clear career benefits for children and at best is just a value-based subject with no real-life consequences While this links back to how nature is being positioned as an aesthetic and puritatrian concept, it is nevertheless critical to change this articulation. It is critical to position EE as not another subject that is being imposed on teachers and children with little practical value, but rather be positioned as a powerful tool/subject that helps integrates across subjects, helps connect theory to practice and day-to-day lives and helps in resolving sustainability and environmental issues across the planet. In conclusion, while there is no questioning the need for a strong environmental education subject in our education system, clearly there still is a lot of work to be done at the content and implementation level. There are many government and non-government institutions/ organisations who have extensive experience working in the education sector. Everyone should start looking at EE as a powerful framework under which can integrate across subjects like language, math and sciences, connect theory with practice, make education relatable to the lived lives of the learner and make educational institutions spaces of knowledge co-creation.

When it comes down to implementing the curriculum on the ground, I feel both approaches have major logistical and implementation level challenges.

Talking Sustainability Center for Environment Education

At CEE, we believe that cultivating environmental literacy is the primary goal of environmental education.

Centre for Environment Education (CEE) is a pioneer institution working for more than three decades in the country to plan and implement EE/ESD (Environment Education/Ecological Sustainable Development) initiatives. CEE is a nongovernmental organization which is recognized as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in the field of EE by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF), Government of India. CEE has long experience of working with a wide variety of stakeholders. Enviornment education in schools has been one of the primary thrust areas for the organization. The following is a transcript of our interview with Preeti R. Kanaujia, Senior Programme Director at CEE. In this interview we try and learn from CEE’s vast and deep experiences in the fields of EE/ ESD.

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1. What definition of Ecological/Environmental Literacy do you subscribe to?

2. Has CEE been a part of Environment Curriculum Development?

t CEE, we believe that cultivating environmental literacy is the primary goal of environmental education. Any good education is equivalent to environmental education. Environmental literacy is all about building awareness, knowledge, and behaviour to lead a responsible lifestyle in accordance with laws of nature. An environmentally literate person will have critical thinking skills and appreciation for nature, would work towards overall environmental well-being, and contribute towards solving environmental problems.

4. How are you encouraging/introducing/ building ecological/ environmental literacy through your programs?

In 2003 a Supreme Court Directive made EE compulsory, this accelerated the process of mainstreaming of EE. During the process of development of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005, CEE was part of an expert focus group on EE which was called as Habitat and Learning. To take these processes further, we started developing EE training content for teachers to implement the SC Directive. In collaboration with National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), we have developed educational resources on Environmental Education for teacher preparation for preservice training. We have also developed a curriculum framework for international schools that are established by various CSR groups. Our State offices are closely working with the state education departments to guide and facilitate the process of development of curriculum and textbooks with infusion of EE.

EE was recognized as the Centre of Excellence in the field of Environmental Education by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, we continue to work closely with the national and state government institutions on various aspects related to curriculum development in the capacity of expert institutions.

chool Education is one of the key thrust areas for us. We are working on developing innovative programmes and educational material and builds capacity in the field of EE and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). A range of educational materials for students and teachers, youth, educators, decision makers, and local community members to help build environmental awareness are also being created and made available. The national level school flagship programme known as ‘Paryavaran Mitra’ adopts eco club and whole school approach. Schools are offered with various programmes and opportunities to engage students, teachers, the non-teaching staff, and the school management in sustainability education. We also work in collaboration with different national and international organizations to expand this work on EE and ESD.

es, we have been involved in curriculum development processes at the national level. A study on ‘Status of infusion of environmental concepts in school curricula and the effectiveness of its delivery’ was undertaken across the country by us and BVIEER (Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research) which was sponsored by the MoEF and the World Bank. The study revealed major gaps in the infusion of environmental concepts in the textbooks. This analysis paved the way for the ‘greening’ of the textbooks at the national level. A project titled ‘Environmental Education in the School System (EESS)’ was taken up with the support of the Environment Ministry. CEE, as an implementing agency, worked with State Education Departments to infuse various environmental concepts in science, social science, and language textbooks of classes VI, VII, VIII during 2003–2004.

3. Has the government been forthcoming about working with you towards EE curriculum development?

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We have recently launched the CEE academy, a transformational education initiative for sustainable development. We bring together subject experts and practitioners to create and deliver educational content on critical issues for the future of people and the planet. Capacity building courses are being offered for youth, teachers, young professionals and all those seeking to gain an edge by adding the sought-after skills of sustainable development.

5. Should ecological/ environmental literacy be seamlessly integrated school curricular disciplines, or should it be a standalone subject? which do you think is most impactful/ effective?

here is no one way of doing this. EE has been included in the form of ‘integration, infusion, separate subject and project-based learning’ at different age levels. ‘Learning about the environment; Learning through the environment and Learning for the environment’ is the underpinning strategy of EE in formal education. As per our experience of working with schools, ecological/environmental literacy cannot be a standalone subject. If you look at environment education in India, at the primary school level, science and social science are combined together as environmental science or EVS. In middle school, it is infused with other subjects. At the college level it is introduced as a separate subject. All these must happen simultaneously and not sequentially. A good understanding of chemistry, mathematics, and social studies is crucial for EE. It is important to introduce EE at all levels of education. The infusion approach has been there for years in India. It has succeeded in introducing environmental concepts and issues. However, for EE to be meaningful, students must not only be taught the science of it but also include the social, economic, and cultural aspects. Infusion of EE must happen in all subject disciplines and not just in science or geography but in other subjects like mathematics, social science, arts and languages. This could be challenging. Hence it is important to train teachers and all stakeholders, including parents, school heads, administration, all staff associated with the school system. It also needs to have a combination of curricular and extracurricular approaches where learners get to understand environmental and sustainability concerns in their own local contexts.

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6. What are the gaps and challenges in EE, both systemic and behavioural?

EE has to be holistic and it is vital for students to not just know the science behind environmental issues but also know the social, economic, cultural impacts of the same.

e have presented relevant points regarding gaps and challenges here, however, looking at this closely, I feel that infusion of EE has always been in subjects like science or geography but not in other subjects like mathematics, social science, arts and languages. EE has to be holistic and it is vital for students to not just know the science behind environmental issues but also know the social, economic, cultural impacts of the same.

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Spotlight Chronicles of an Educator

For behavioural changes, a very critical step involves bringing attitudinal changes in children. Usually the formal assessment system only tests knowledge related to concepts taught in the classrooms. Learners memorize these to be able to pass exams. So, assessing environmental literacy through this method is challenging which is limited to information and fact based understanding. There is a need to have appropriate tools to assess learners for their knowledge, change in attitude and behaviour, skills related to critical thinking and problem-solving.

Dr. Amales Misra has been a supporter, educator, and guide for the Wipro earthian program for schools in West Bengal. He is the prime mover behind Paribesh Unnayan Parishad’s (PUPA) participation in program for schools. As the state- level partner in West Bengal for Center for Environment Education (CEE) for the last four years, his contribution to the program in handholding student teams and teachers has been invaluable. Under his mentorship and guidance, many schools have received the Wipro earthian award, validating his work as an environmental educator. Apart from this his work as a conservationist and advocate of eco-friendly livelihood interventions is equally noteworthy.

Preparation of teachers is one of the keys for effective environmental education. While EE was made compulsory, there was no formal in-service training provided to teachers. As per our experience, this leads to a lot of gaps in what is enlisted in curriculum and learning outcomes and what is actually happening at the ground level. The whole school approach includes not only teachers but also all relevant stakeholders including teachers, students, parents, school heads, administration, and all the staff associated with the school system. Hence, all stakeholders need to be a part of this process.

7. Does the material you design outside of the school curriculum supplement and bridge gaps in schools curriculums?

8. Is there a way to assess learning outcomes for ecological/environmental literacy?

efinitely, CEE has developed a wide range of educational materials on EE for teachers, textbook writers, policy makers, students etc. This includes teacher’s modules/lesson plans/activity handbooks, games, demonstration, action projects, films, web-based material, students activity guides, charts, posters, etc. We have worked with many teachers and schools. We have received overwhelming responses on how our EE curriculum has not only helped build environmental literacy but that knowledge and skills have helped students do better in other subjects. For example, critical thinking skills, problem solving, self-awareness and many other ESD skills have helped bridge the gaps in teaching and learning.

gain, there is no one single way of assessing EE learnings. First, we need to assess how well students have understood a concept. Then we must assess how students are applying this learning and understanding in what they are doing. One aspect of this is to see whether students are actually able to recognise the issues at hand and identify possible solutions. There is also a need to introduce teachers with various tools and techniques to help them in assessing learners for learning outcomes for EE.

he reports submitted by the students under his guidance show that Dr. Misra nudges teams to go beyond the boundaries of the earthian booklets and enables them to connect and deeply understand the issues related to waste, water and biodiversity in their local communities and surrounding ecosystems. Along with his colleagues from PUPA, , over last four years from 2018 to 2021, he has been able to mobilize 109 reports involving more than 65 schools and nearly 500 students.

Along with his colleagues from PUPA, , over last four years from 2018 to 2021, he has been able to mobilize 109 reports involving more than 65 schools and nearly 500 students.

In this piece, we look at his motivations and what led him to evangelise the Wipro earthian program in his region. Amales Misra is a trained Zoologist who has worked with the Zoological Survey of India as a scientist for more than 30 years. Post retirement he returned to Sagardwip, the biggest estuarian island of the Sunderbans delta and with his colleagues formed the NGO- PUPA, which is dedicated to the cause of environmental conservation. Being at its helm he believes that this can be ensured only if it is integrated with sustainable livelihoods and sustainability education at the grass-root level involving young children. He has also initiated a project called “Amar Gram” in the village where he was born, Phulbari in Sagardwip, with the objective of motivating children to develop empathy and passion for the natural surroundings.

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Sagar Island is an ecologically sensitive area, realising this, he along with his team at PUPA are planning to engage in a Research & Developmental project involving responses to climate change under a Model Village project. They also run an informal school (pre-primary and primary) for the less-privileged children of the island, following the philosophy: “If a child cannot reach to the school, the school must reach the child”. Their mission is to empower children from marginalized communities by providing nature-based education and developing scientific awareness in them. Motivating the youth of the region towards agriculture and local biodiversity is another area that he is passionately engaged in. He has personally provided support to many students in attending the Children’s Science Congress and other state level programmes. He has worked towards advancing school curricula linked activity and project-based learning under the banner of ‘Krishna-Suchitra Memorial Centre for Rural Development & Research', an affiliate of PUPA.

Some valuable observations that Dr. Misra has made while engaging with schools for the earthian program include, the overwhelming participation of girl students and the involvement and interest of teachers whose primary subjects are not science or environment related. The earthian program is all the more richer with educators like Amales Misra and we hope to have his continued support and presence in the program.

If a child cannot reach to the school, the school must reach the child.

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Feature A Case for Environmental Education in Ladakh In October last year, the Wipro earthian team was in Ladakh, visiting participating schools, education officials and organisations who are working in the field of sustainability and education. We came away with many positive and heartening experiences. In the past decade, the impact of climate change has been starkly visible in Ladakh. With melting glaciers and changing rainfall patterns, Ladakhis are clearly at the forefront of experiencing and bearing witness to the impacts of climate change and other adverse environmental challenges.

nvironment education initiatives and programs at such a time would greatly benefit the communities and future generations of Ladakh, firstly through understanding climate change and its impacts, both at local and global levels and secondly in envisioning local, community led solutions to minimising these impacts. Navikru Eco Foundation who is our SEN partner in Ladakh has taken the program to schools in Leh, Kargil, Zanskar, and Changthang regions and is working towards covering more ground in the coming years.

n many ways, children in Ladakh are closely connected to nature and are imbibed with strong community values. Young Ladhakis regularly participate in farming activities with their families, and are thus exposed to the effects of climate change on their land and livelihoods. Many have stories to tell, from witnessing changes that are happening around them at present, to stories of past when seasons were predictable and harvest was plentiful. These stories are passed on to them from their parents and grandparents. Students we met showed great resilience and an eagerness to learn and participate in programs such as earthian. They appreciate and acknowledge that such programs will enable them to focus on and understand the causes, impacts and solutions to environmental issues around them.

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It is in these regions that we found the most enthusiastic teachers and students, who were eager to participate in the earthian program. All the schools visited had teachers and students, who presented the progress of their work and reports to us with an overwhelming sense of enthusiasm.

The program in numbers for 2021

52 Schools reached 77 teachers trained 22 submissions

ne can safely say that they are among the first generation to witness the changes that tourism is bringing to the region. With the increase in tourism there has been explosion of waste in the region, which was previously not a burning issue. Water usage has also increased because of an increase in footfall of tourists in popular destinations including the main city of Leh. We heard from students, that the earthian program has helped shed more light to the increasing problem of waste and helped them understand the roles of various stakeholders involved, including themselves.

chools in Ladakh are located in the most picturesque settings- at the foothills of snow peaked mountains and in valleys between them, but always contrasted by harsh living conditions. One must travel long distances to reach these schools, situated in small villages which are sparsely populated. They have bare minimum infrastructure and facilities but what is endearing is the commitment the teachers have towards educating the youth and the fact that they recognise the importance of environment education in such times.

obzang Wangtak is a glacier conservationist from Zanskar and is the founder of Navikarana Trust. The trust works towards providing sustainable solutions through programs for sustainable livelihoods, irrigation and protecting and increasing biodiversity of the region. Wangtak constantly stresses on the numerous challenges that his region faces- from the imminent problems of unregulated tourism to the larger issues of scaling temperatures and melting glaciers. One immediate concern is that the region will run out of water sooner than predicted and is also experiencing issues such as increasing human animal conflict. He opines that youth is the biggest stakeholder as they will inherit the future Zanskar and Ladakh. Building capacity in schools and empowering children with knowledge of climate change and its impacts and solutions would establish a strong foundation for their future. It is imperative to shift from repeated and ineffective messaging of recycling, cleanliness etc. What will help is to deep dive into the root cause of these issues and guide them to critically think about sustainable solutions.

t is important that along with conventional approaches to environment education, traditional local wisdom and indigenous knowledge of their communities should be taught. Through this, they learn how their ancestors lived in harmony with the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas and

this is relevant now more than ever. A crucial observation from Wangtak is that “Children are an important bridge between knowledge they assimilate and the society. What they learn in schools can reach the communities they live in and together they become a major pressure group to demand change in the context of Climate Change and it’s impacts, and lead by example.” With this in mind, the earthian program is excited to continue our work in Ladakh and take our program to more schools and communities across the region with the support of our partner Navikru Eco foundation.

What will help is to deep dive into the root cause of these issues and guide them to critically think about sustainable solutions.

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Recounting a special memory When some students from a school in rural Maharashtra found out they were getting an opportunity to travel by plane, their joy knew no bounds! As one of the winning school team in the Wipro earthian competition, students of (insert school name) were invited to Bangalore to attend the award ceremony. Bhausaheb Kasar, their teacher who accompanied them, has penned down a lighthearted narration of this journey through a marathi book. Switching his role between a teacher, a guardian and a friend, he observed the apprehension, the anxiety, the excitement and the happiness of the students closely and found it compelling to share the experience with others. The book - titled 'Viman Pravasachi Goshta', loosely translated to 'The Story of Plane Travel' - was published earlier this year. It gives us immense pleasure to share this delightful book with our readers. And we are happy to announce that an English translation is on its way, so that this book is accessible to a wider audience.

College Op-Ed: Rama Mohana R Turaga, Associate Professor, Public Systems Group, IIM Ahmedabad

Feature: School of Sustainability, XIM University

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Op-Ed Sustainability Careers: Personal Reflections from an Indian Management Education Perspective * Rama Mohana R Turaga, Associate Professor, Public Systems Group, IIM Ahmedabad Just a few days before world leaders were to meet to negotiate a climate change agreement in Paris, in November 2015, I was invited to speak at the Sixth Asia Forum of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) in Goa. That was a time when environmental social and governance (ESG) risks and investments, circular economy, and net zero carbon targets were terms barely known, if at all, within the business community.

t the PRME Forum, as a panellist and moderator for a session on ‘Responsible Management Education in Asia: Preparing for Transformations in B-School Policies and Practices,’ I raised two questions with regards to sustainability education in business/management schools in India. First, how could management schools offer sustainability courses in the MBA curriculum if there were no credible signals from Indian businesses that sustainability education was valued in the job market. Second, should sustainabilityrelated courses be taught as separate courses or should

IIMA has had a long tradition of offering elective courses on topics related to environment and sustainability in the MBA program.

environmental and social concerns be integrated within the teaching of functional areas such as finance, strategy, and marketing. Half a dozen years later, with the challenges of a warming planet visible every day, it is worthwhile to reflect on the progress made on these two questions. We will look at this purely from the lens of my experiences of teaching sustainability at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) over the last decade.

Market for Sustainability in Management Education

he trend since 2015 has been clear: there is a growing interest for introducing sustainability curriculum in Indian business schools. IIMA has had a long tradition of offering elective courses on topics related to environment and sustainability in the MBA program. However, in 2016, we introduced a core course on corporate sustainability, both in our regular MBA as well as the newly introduced online MBA.

any other IIMs and top tier management schools in the country now offer some form of sustainability course as a core course, in addition to offering many elective courses on energy, environment, and society. More importantly, a few schools have started MBA programs with specialization in sustainability. Thus, on the supply side, there is good evidence that sustainability courses are gaining acceptance in the mainstream of business school curriculum. What about the demand? Do students perceive value in skills and exposure to business sustainability issues? The answer is less clear.

On the supply side, there is good evidence that sustainability courses are gaining acceptance in the mainstream of business school curriculum.

n the positive side, we have several elective courses on sustainability-related themes that are well received by the students at IIMA. For example, a course I teach on sustainability has been running for close to eight years now, often significantly exceeding the minimum threshold for course registrations. While there was an initial pushback for the sustainability core course, there is an increasingly greater acceptance of its importance in the core curriculum. In the corporate sustainability core course in the online ePGP programme, which attracts students with significant amounts of work experience in the corporate sector, there is a great deal of appreciation for the course among the participants.

ur MBA students also approach me, and other faculty members researching sustainability themes, to carry out semester-long project courses. Over the past few years, students have worked with me on the green bond market in India, reporting of sustainable development goals by Indian

corporations, business opportunities in electronic waste management, and challenges to scaling up charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in India. A couple of years ago, two students, who joined a private equity firm after their graduation, wrote to tell me how excited they were to note that their company was pursuing a new sustainability certification, which we studied in the elective course they took with me.

Integrating Sustainability into Business Functions

n early 2015, a workshop we organized at IIMA brought together academia, NGOs, and industry on the same platform to discuss the then new mandatory CSR law. The keynote speaker was a Professor at Harvard Business School (HBS). In an informal conversation with him, some of our faculty colleagues raised this question of whether sustainability should be taught as a separate course - core or elective - or should sustainability concerns be integrated with the teaching within the core functions of business. While he agreed that integration was the way to go, he didn’t think that it was easy at that time to pull off such an integration even at a top school such as HBS. Six years down the line, we are exactly at the same place.

Times Magazine article, published in October 2021, quotes the veterans of corporate sustainability in business academia, making it apparent that there has been little progress on that front across the globe. Many of us are convinced that it is likely to be much more effective if sustainability is integrated within other core courses. But we also know that it is unlikely to happen fast enough for a variety of reasons.

Many of us are convinced that it is likely to be much more effective if sustainability is integrated within other core courses.

*the views expressed here are of the author alone and not the institute

College- Feature Piece | 22

College- Op-Ed | 21

Feature

Concluding Thoughts

our years ago, when I was asked to be part of a panel to judge a competition to award companies for their sustainability performance, I was pleasantly surprised to note that a few big Indian corporate groups already had a Corporate Sustainability Officer (CSO) and some form of sustainability governance structure at the board level. I do not have data on the number of Indian businesses with such organizational structures for sustainability (likely still very few) now. But it is possibly an indication that we may be moving on from sustainability as an issue of regulatory compliance performed through Environment Health and Safety (EHS) departments to being a more strategic

imperative requiring a top level manager to oversee that function.

t is unclear though how these changes at the top (in whatever small way it may be happening) get reflected in the recruitment at the middle and lower management roles. Perhaps it is time for us to ask ourselves whether the Indian management schools would just like to cater to the demands of Indian businesses or should they challenge them to think differently on how to conduct their business more sustainably and responsibly?

School of Sustainability, XIM University Located in Odisha’s capital city of Bhubaneswar, the School of Sustainability (SoS) is an initiative of the reputed XIM University. The school, which became functional in 2015, has steadily taken off as the pioneer institution in India for Sustainability Management Education. It was the first of its kind initiative by an Indian University, established to create and nurture the next generation of managers and leaders who can anchor and accelerate sustainability as a strategy for economic growth and sustainable human development. The school offers multiple educational programs across the full range of higher education learning including a two-year Master’s program in Sustainability Management and two undergraduate programs, BSc (Hons) Sustainable Development and BSc (Hons) Environmental Science as well as its PhD Programme. The values of education guiding the school include social compassion, environmental consciousness and cultural diversity, in line with its overall vision of “Enabling people to live extraordinary lives and be the light for the world.”

eing a new programme with no such existing benchmark, the awareness and acceptance of the programme and its’ vision was a difficult proposition in the initial years. One of the foremost challenges before the school, thus, was in bringing about a shift within the mindset of the students’ who were interested and curious, in making them fully appreciative of the nuances within the broad realm of sustainability. XSOS has also entered a collaboration with WIPRO Foundation to mainstream sustainability action and thinking at the institute as well as at the state level. This included annual sustainability summits, regional sustainability workshops and trainings and the WIPRO earthian sustainability awards.

he Two-Year MBA in Sustainability Management is the flagship programme of the SoS, offering a unique opportunity to specialize in Sustainability as also one functional management area selected from the traditional functional domains of Marketing, Operations or Financial Management. In the context of the curriculum itself, some skilful manoeuvring was done to find the sustainable sweet spot of technical and managerial components. The curriculum, due to its transdisciplinary nature, required the faculty and industry experts to create a precise balancing of courses w.r.t. three pillars (economic, environmental and social) and embedding these within management science. Students also realized the appropriateness of academic learning supplemented by field exposure, field projects, and lab applications. Laboratory for Innovation Facilitating Excellence (LIFE) LAB was functional to take up Government projects and industry consultancies. Apart from live projects, the Sustainability Discovery Programme, or SDP, has evolved into a pan India initiative that gave students the opportunity to stay and work in the field with on – ground CSOs

College-Feature Piece | 23

and partner organizations, giving them an insight into real – life ‘wicked problems’ that lie at the heart of the sustainability conundrum.

In the context of the curriculum itself, some skilful manoeuvring was done to find the sustainable sweet spot of technical & managerial components.

ome notable academic collaborations include Loyola University Chicago, CUNY New York, and San Diego State University (SDSU), California. Notable research projects taken up by the school faculty include an SERB funded R & D project on ‘PhytoHealth’, Ministry of Earth Science funded R & D project on ‘Hydro-chemical budgeting at river-sea interface: role of tide and river runoff in Mahanadi estuary’ and impact assessments of Solar and Water management projects. The school has also signed MoUs with noted research bodies such as NEERI and CIFA Bhubaneswar, and ground partnerships with CHINAR, UNICEF, and WIPRO Foundation. In the state of Odisha itself, several cooperative learning relationships have organically developed, with Government and Non – Government state actors in the field of environment, forest, as also humanitarian and international bodies active on the ground.

he geographical proximity to several eco – sensitive zones, such as Bhitarkarnika, Chilika, long coastline, ports, the Mahanadi Estuary and the mining zones of central and Eastern India have helped students gain first-hand exposure to diverse ecosystems and their associated challenges. Equally, their students have benefitted tremendously from the international exposure they have received courtesy of the school’s diverse partners from various domains, including scientific advisers, research collaborations, academic partnerships, and industry practitioners, each of whom have been generous in sharing their work, learnings and time.

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he initial years especially saw low acceptance of SDG framework-based curriculum among industry and corporates with the exception of some sustainability leaders in corporate space. Collaborations with industry leaders, think tanks and academic experts, including integration of some members from each stakeholder group as part of the school’s strategic advisory board (SAAB) was one strategy that has helped the school gain traction. The SAAB members were influential in shaping of the curriculum, with sector – specific inputs on employability and upskilling, and bringing in diverse worldviews. The resulting technomanagerial curriculum has given graduates a huge advantage, allowing them to take up leadership positions in the arena of sustainability management across leading business organizations and consulting set-ups. The wide appreciation received from corporates, consulting bodies and academic experts who came on board has helped the school hone its programme offering and bring it in line with industry requirements and policy shifts along the years. Their alumni have done them proud, rightfully taking the mantle of sustainability championship within corporate bodies ahead and beyond the existing norms. Some major recruiters are UltraTech Cement, CTran, Hindalco, PWC, Ambuja Cement, RSM-GC, SR Asia, KPMG, TATA STRIVE, EY, TATA POWER.

General Management Climate Change & Natural Resources Management -Natural Resource Management, Protection, Preservation & Promotion -Society, Science, Technology & Environment

Sustainable Energy -Energy System, Society, & Sustainability -Renewable Energy: Policies, Planning, & Management

The wide appreciation received from corporates, consulting bodies and academic experts...has helped the school hone its programme offering and bring it in line with industry requirements and policy shifts along the years.

-Communication for Sustainability -Social Research Methods -Fundamentals of Economics -Natural Resource Economics -Information Systems of Sustainability -Quantitative Analysis & Environmental Statistics Strategy -Transition Strategies for

Policies, Law & Governance -International Environment Law & Institutions -Governance & Management of Natural Resources

Sustainability, Leadership &Entrepreneurship Human Development -Human Development & SustainableDevelopment Goals -Frontiers of Human Development: Economic Growth, Equity, etc.

-Sustainability, Leadership & Social Entrepreneurship -Designing Organization for Sustainability & Change

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n the UG programme, class strength was a long – term issue and made it difficult to illustrate with confidence the further prospects for the graduating students. Parents’, family members, and counsellors, had a window into the programme, but were not fully involved, were another stakeholder group that took a lot of convincing and handholding. A newly developed Sustainability Stewardship programme in collaboration with Wipro Foundation has been launched to promote holistic learning, and facilitate training, certifications and internships for the graduating students. Many of these students have gone on for higher learning opportunities in the field of sustainability, fitting in well at the most reputed and credible organizations, national and international, undertaking live projects, and winning competitions and hearts along the way. At the heart of it is the comprehensively designed curriculum for the two programmes, i.e., BSc. (Hons) in Sustainable Development & BSc. (Hons) in Environmental Science. The curriculum closely follows the Sustainability Learning Performance Framework and its four thematic areas of Sustainability Competencies, Progressive Pedagogies, Cooperative Learning Relationships, and Framework of Understanding and World-View.

A newly developed Sustainability Stewardship programme in collaboration with Wipro Foundation has been launched to promote holistic learning, and facilitate training, certifications and internships for the graduating students.

he strength of the school lies in its interdisciplinary approach, its collaborative thinking and networking, and its willingness to work for the creation of a participatory, learningrich environment while retaining its foundations in science, technology and a people-oriented approach. The Sustainable Discovery Programme has given our students exposure to sustainable issues and problems in the real world, while the LifeLab is where they work on projects, and their understanding of energy, water, air, land and buildings, transport and products and materials are built from the scratch. The interlinking of theory and practicum is what makes the school of sustainability unique in India.

Programmatic Updates Highlights of 2021

What’s New 2021

Dispatches From The Field

Sustainability Educator Network

Continuous Engagement Program

Upcoming Events

Interesting Reads

Programmatic Updates- Highlights of 2021 | 27

Highlights of 2021

Programmatic Updates- What's New in 2021 | 28

What's New in 2021 W

1000 +

Projects Received

5000 +

Students Engaged

2000 +

Schools Engaged

4000 +

Teachers Engaged

29 States & 3 UTs

e are happy to announce the launch of our new website. You can now read more about our work and programmes at https:// wiprofoundation.org.in/earthian/

fter 6 successful years of hosting the Wipro earthian sustainability quiz, we have unveiled a new online format. Going forward the entire quiz will be conducted wholly online through a dedicated quizzing portal that allows participants to prepare and explore deeper issues in sustainability.

O 200 +

Districts

ur 'Biodiversity' booklet was first released in 2016. This year, we have begun work on substantially redeveloping the booklet with a new set of activities and approaches to isues surrounding Biodiversity in India. This new version will have more nuanced topics and a lot more handson and fun activities to help students understand these concepts by learning through doing and observing.

Programmatic Updates-Dispatches from the Field | 29

Programmatic Updates- Dispatches from the Field | 30

Dispatches From The Field Our partners, including CEE, CPREEC, Wild Ecologues and the educators from our sustainability educator network conducted workshops with topics ranging from naturebased learning to sustainability practices. These workshops were conducted both online and on the field where possible and collectively our partners have reached

1500+students and 4000+ teachers.

Snapshots from the workshops

Programmatic Updates- Sustainability Educators Network | 31

Sustainability Educators Network A key area we focus on with our sustainability educator partners, is curating capacity-building workshops for them aimed at building domain-specific skills and knowledge that can help them in their work with the community and schools. Keystone foundation, one of our resource organizations, conducted two workshops for our Sustainability educators.

Ecological Calendars

Monitoring methods and use in understanding linkages between society and natural system. Participants were taken through modules to understand Ecological Calendars, the Participatory Methods and Approaches to work on Ecological Calendars and finally to design an ecological calendar specific to their geographies.

Climate Change

Bridging Modern Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Educators were introduced to the science of Climate Change, Mapping the climate action pathways (Governance, people and finance) and Climate Work Plans.

Programmatic Updates- Sustainability Educators Network | 32

Community Work Apart from anchoring the main earthian program, our educators also run sustainability programs in their communities. From science club activities, field experiential programs, bird watching and cleanliness drives, they have been busy with a variety of sustainability and environment related community activities. A glimpse of a few such engagements are provided below:

Programmatic Updates- Sustainability Educators Network | 33

Programmatic Updates- Continuous Engagement Programme | 34

Continuous Engagement Programme S

unil Prajapati from Samavesh, arranged for a visit to a Water Treatment plant to expose students to the working of the treatment plant while showcasing to them the importance of water conservation. Apart from this he also arranged visits to a wildlife park and Natural History Museum and ran a Cleanliness Awareness Program.

ivya T K from HUME worked with Tribal communities in Wayanad, to bring back the children into schools while encouraging them to take part in the earthian program.

Citizen Science Program on Mushrooms was conducted by our educator, Shrey Gupta of EarthJust. This program has participants from many parts of India, including Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and other states. Shrey conducts online and offline workshops for interested students, educators and community members. In a span of 2 months, between AugustSeptember of 2021 the participants collected more than 150 observations, out of which 83 observations were identified. This ongoing project is hoping to reach more mushroom enthusiasts across the country.

he Kyari Eco-club was started in mid2020 as part of the Wipro Sustainability Educator program. The lead educator for the program, Bhaskar Sati from TITLI trust initiated nature walks for children after introducing them to the Wipro Sustainability’s Educator program’s biodiversity module. The children of the eco-club released a booklet titled ‘Birds of Kyari.’ This booklet documents the bird diversity in Kyari village located at the edge of Pawalgarh Conservation Reserve in Uttarakhand.

CEP ensures that our work in the field of Sustainability Education goes beyond the competition to achieve depth and long-term learning. Through the program we:

01 Devise multiple platforms for meaningful engagement for faculty and students.

03 Build institutional sensitivity and awareness on an ongoing basis.

Build capacity and co-create educational practices.

02 Initiate action on sustainability issues.

Programmatic Updates- Continuous Engagement Programme | 35

Programmatic Updates- Continuous Engagement Programme | 36

College CEP

Academic And Other Collaborations IIT Bombay

Wipro Sustainability Internship Support Program

The Wipro Sustainability internship support programme has grown from strength to strength over the last decade. Despite the severe limitations posed by the pandemic in 2021, 19 students have successfully completed their summer sustainability internships with our partners remotely.

Institutes:

Internship Organisations:

• School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada

• Indian Institute of Management Lucknow PGP-SM

• IIT Bombay

• College of Engineering Pune

• CEPT University

• Jyothi Nivas College, Bangalore

• BIOME Solutions

• Aadhimalai Pazhangudiyinar Producer company limited and Keystone Foundation

• World Resources Institute, India

• CSTEP, Bangalore

We are exploring a multi-year collaboration with the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay to allow deeper integration of sustainability principles in the chemical engineering discipline.

It is an 18-month plan that primarily involves: • Developing an introductory UG course on sustainable engineering which will draw form the existing PG elective called ‘sustainable engineering principles • Developing relevant material to add-on to the existing course content in core courses like mass transfer or thermodynamics • Developing compendium that can be used by departments and faculty members planning to teach aspects of sustainable engineering to UG chemical engineering students in the country • Invite feedback from external faculty via a consultative workshop • A number of industrial case studies will also be developed for classroom use.

IIM Ahmedabad

Our ongoing collaboration with IIMA on developing a compendium on sustainability case studies for B-schools has made some good progress. Academic publisher SAGE has officially come on board to publish this as a text book for teaching corporate sustainability in Indian B-schools. The intention to publish this as a text book means more material, beyond teaching cases and teaching notes, to help the instructors navigate through the book and adopt it for their courses. It is expected that the formal launch of the compendium will happen in early 2022.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Wipro Foundation was happy to be part of a closed group stakeholder dialogue hosted by United Nations Environment Program and its partnering institute TERI-SAS. The dialogue was to invite feedback, inputs and set the agenda for the India Green Universities Network (IGUN) platform which seeks to evangelize sustainability thinking and action in Indian university and campuses. Participants included global thought leaders like AASHE, EAUC, multiple Indian colleges, AICTE, student representatives and key faculty. The objectives were to develop an understanding of the sustainability and higher education landscape in India, integration challenges, emerging opportunities etc. Also, to help define what this network will seek to achieve. Wipro Foundation hosted a session on mapping the underlying strengths in the Indian ecosystem that covered types of interventions, initiatives, courses, research, platforms, and networks that currently exist in this space.

Programmatic Updates- Upcoming Events | 37

Programmatic Updates- Interesting Reads | 38

Upcoming Events 11th edition

Interesting Reads E.O. Wilson’s last dream

The

of the Wipro earthian Annual Awards will be held virtually on the 12th of Feb, with an equally exciting range of speakers, interactions and events.

Climate education: Maharashtra shows the way Stay Tuned for the National Finals of the

7th edition

of the wipro earthian sust quiz on the 12th of Feb. We are taking the quiz online with live broadcast of the quizzes from the quarter finals onwards and a massive 14 rounds of high octane quizzing ending with the finals and bumper prize!

Hope in the time of a pandemic: Positive news from 2021 How UNEP is helping education systems go green

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/ e-o-wilsons-last-dream/

https://www.hindustantimes. com/editorials/climate-educationmaharashtra-shows-theway-101639662646934.html

https://india.mongabay.com/2022/01/ hope-in-the-time-of-a-pandemicpositive-news-from-2021/

https://moderndiplomacy. eu/2022/01/24/how-unep-is-helpingeducation-systems-go-green/

Wipro Foundation Doddakannelli, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore-560 035, India Tel: +91 (80) 2844 0011 Fax: +91 (80) 2844 0256 wipro.com For more information, please write to us at earthian.contact@wipro.com wiprofoundation.org/earthian/ Curated by The Wipro earthian Team