Climate change knows no borders and is significantly influenced by populous countries like India. However, environmental education has not yet found a sufficient place in Indian curricula. There are various environmental workshops that are offered by different institutions, but in most cases these are only one-offs and are also too expensive for many schools. A one-time sensitization workshop will not change the behavior of the children and teachers in the long term. Above all, the actual living environment of the course participants is not or only insufficiently taken into account in these workshops and there is a lack of practical relevance.
Therefore, the Schöck-Familien-Stiftung supports the “Environmental Education Future Academy” for primary schools developed by SONNE-International and its Indian partner organization, which has been tested at two schools in southern and northern India since March 2022. This is a holistic online program that addresses teachers, students and their parents collectively with the aim of promoting individual environmental awareness and specifically making an entire school more ecologically sustainable.
The practical and interactive program includes 12 webinars for students and teachers, with which the environmental awareness of the participants will be promoted in the long term. Connections are shown and ways in which one can personally contribute to climate protection are conveyed by recognized Indian trainers and scientists. In addition, the participating schools will be converted to “green schools” as part of this program, with each school developing its own environmental concept and implementing it parallel to the webinars. After the development and pilot phase, this innovative concept will be revised (“lessons learned”) so that it can be used at other schools in the future.
Project sponsor: SONNE International
Project partner: Buddha Education Foundation
Funding year: since 2022
Project No.: 162-22ro