SUSTAINABLE LIFETYLES AND EDUCATION

BRIDGE THE GAP

BACKGROUND & RATIONALE

The intervention aims to focus on facilitating a culture of environmental engagement and responsible civic action for young people through learning, exposure and strategic opportunities to engage with targeted audiences and create awareness/ impact on their immediate environment. Concerns for environment and climate change have dwindled between successful and dispersed efforts of responsible and sustainable lifestyles by various civil society groups and the larger economic needs. Recent events in India and Globally, have emphatically demonstrated our vulnerability to Climate Change. Considering the current scenario, the project shall facilitate a platform that would bring together young people from various walks of life to impact positive political action and sustainable lifestyle choices.

CLASSROOM WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENT ISSUES

EXPOSURE VISITS & LEARNING JOURNEYS

HANDS-ON DEVELOPING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

As the name suggests, our Bridge The Gap programme aims at bringing education and sustainability under one umbrella, keeping life skills and active citizenship at the core of our intervention. It is a 12-16 session based schools program on climate change, environment education, life skills and active citizenship. We work with both government as well as private schools, through curriculum based intervention, that includes conducting workshops, exposure trips and eco-walks to ecological hubspots, classroom and ‘out of class’ sessions, campaigns, practicum and infrastructure development, across themes of land, water, air, waste management, climate change and inclusive ecology.

These module based interventions aim to be a 5 stage engagement with students, intensively engaging with them on issues of air, water or waste, depending on the interest of the school. These modules through various interactive learning techniques engage students on issues of environment and citizenship, transacted using multiple learning tools including Audio-visuals, games, exposures, reflective sessions, self and institutional audits, individual / team exercises. The entire module duration is 12-15 hours, including workshops, exposure trips (learning walks), expert talks and school campaigns.

In the last 15 years, the 12-16 session long curriculum has been successfully implemented in schools such as Sanskriti School, British School, Vasant Valley School, Modern Schools, Sriram Schools, German School and 14 NDMC schools. 250 schools of Delhi NCR with over 50,000 students and has been supported by Sri Ratan Tata Trust, Nokia Siemens Networks, American Express, National Geographic, and Adobe. In 2019-2020 Swechha worked with over 200 schools through curated year-long curricula and leadership journeys – ‘CineGreen’ and ‘Ride the Van’ to build environmental stewardship in schools on air pollution, water conservation, waste management and Green Spaces, which resulted in student fellowships, green action projects and student made films on the environment.

Renowned schools of the capital such as German School, Modern School, Cambridge School, DPS International, Springdales School Pusa Road, Delhi Public School, Banyan Tree, Mothers’ International School, St. Columba’s School have given excellent feedback about the program.