of Stewardship in Sustainability Education
Inaugural Issue | Vol. 1, Issue 1, November 2020
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What’s Inside
Overview ipro earthian has completed 10 years of working on Sustainability Education. It is one of ‘India’s largest sustainability education program’ for schools and colleges, designed to act as a catalyst for fostering excellence in sustainability thinking and action amongst youth.
The spirit of collaboration ur partner ecosystem, which includes
of collaboration with prominent organizations and
outreach organizations, academic
individuals, all experts in areas of Water,
institutes, and domain experts have
Biodiversity, and Waste. It has been a pleasure to
made invaluable contributions in making
work with BIOME Solutions in conceptualizing and
Wipro earthian a one-of-a-kind program in
redeveloping the ‘Water’ booklet. We are thankful
sustainability education and have been
to Geetha Iyer and Naveen Namboothiri who
instrumental in our success in charting this path.
brought the Biodiversity booklet to life, and
Highlights of 10 years
Since its inception, the program has reached thousands of schools and
of engagement
program has gradually evolved into three full-fledged themes of Water,
Our school program partners include the Center
Biodiversity, and Waste and through our College program, we have
for Environment Education (CEE), C.P.R.
encouraged students to become citizen journalists by exploring issues
Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC), and
concerning Water, Waste, and Food in their cities/towns.
Wild Ecologues. They have collectively reached out
We have built long-lasting collaborations with
to thousands of schools, conducted hundreds of
academic institutes like IIM Ahmedabad, CEPT
teacher training programs, and have been crucial
University, IIT Bombay, ICT Mumbai, XUB,
in evangelizing the program across India. Their
Bhubaneshwar, and IIM Bangalore in
involvement has helped us connect to a diverse
mainstreaming sustainability in higher education
range of rural and urban schools across the
and developing sustainability-related academic
country. Our three booklets have been the product
literature.
with Schools and Colleges
What’s new in
2020?
colleges across India through our national level competition. The school
Going beyond the competition, Wipro earthian through its Continuous Engagement Program (CEP) engages with the education ecosystem to increase the space provided to sustainability education within institutes. Select institutes embark on a collaborative exercise that brings them, sustainability experts, and Wipro together to create unique learning experiences and become partners in change.
Dispatches from the field Special Focus: Wipro Sustainability Educator Program
Centre for Environment Research and Education (CERE) Mumbai, who developed the ‘Waste’ booklet.
Over 10 years this has delivered a rich learning experience for the students, teachers, and institutions who undertook this journey with us. We hope to continue in our efforts to grow this family of informed and empathetic individuals and institutions across the country, making them
The following organizations with domain expertise have hosted dozens of Wipro Sustainability internships for college students over 7 years.
co-creators in this process of learning.
Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) World Resources Institute (WRI)
2019 Awards Highlights
BIOME Solutions Carbon Disclosure Project TRUCOST
Continuous Engagement Program (CEP) 02
Central Himalayan Institute for Nature and Applied Research (CHINAR)
'Hear from our school winners' 'Hear from our college winners'-
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Highlights of 10 years of engagement with Schools and Colleges 95,000+
55,000
Schools
Students engaged
What's new in
2020
1 Our 'Water' booklet was first released in 2013. This year, we have substantially updated the booklet with a new set of
activities and approaches to issues surrounding water in India. New activities include Build to Learn, which has a more hands-on approach to learning, and Hidden Water in Our Food- which helps students explore the embedded water in the food they eat.
2 To cope with the challenges posed by the pandemic, we havetaken the following steps to continue to keep our program engaging, relevant, and accessible:
29 States,
We have introduced ‘Pandemic and Us’ in both school and college competitions. As the title suggests, this exercise aims to provide the opportunity and space for reflection, introspection, and inquiry with a focus on individual and
3 UTs
community issues through the lens of the pandemic We have taken the digital route, and all our teacher-training workshops are now being delivered online through
12,000+
various platforms. Our partners and educators have started and adapted well to the online mode of delivery
Projects received
25,000+
8,000+
Colleges
Teachers engaged
To add to our digital repository, we have collaborated with Centre For Environmental Research & Edu. (CERE), Mumbai, to develop e-learning modules for all the three themes in our school program. These modules, while not intended to replace the richness of the field workshops conducted by our partners and educators, will add value to the training process itself. They are self-paced modules, through which teachers and students can explore the themes in their own time
Pandemic and Us With the outbreak of COVID-19, this year
In this regard, we have introduced a new
sustainability. Similarly, college students
has brought with it a unique set of
section to replace Part B of the three
will explore the three areas of Water,
challenges. In such circumstances,
themes in our school competition to
Waste, and Food through the lens of the
programs such as Wipro earthian are ever
encourage students to take this
pandemic and analyze the stresses created
more relevant. The pandemic has pushed
opportunity to investigate the kind of
by it in a journalistic piece, Students will
us to revisit our strategy in two ways-
stresses that are present in their respective
also brainstorm on ideas and solutions for
village/town/city and understand how or
long-term sustainability. Similarly, college
what role the individuals and communities
students will explore the three areas of
play in building a more resilient society.
Water, Waste, and Food through the lens of
They are also encouraged to reflect on how
the pandemic and analyze the stresses
b) To adapt to the limitations faced by
this pandemic has changed for the better
created by it.
teachers and students to undertake the
or for worse, the lives of people around
activities in our program.
them. Students will also brainstorm on
a) Encourage students and educators to reflect on the pandemic within their local contexts and
ideas and solutions for long-term
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3 To allow more time for project submissions, the last date for school participants' submissions has been extended to December 5 and for college participants to December 15.
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Dispatches from the field 2019-20 Teacher training workshops completed for over 4000 teachers and schools across India.
Andaman and Nicobar
Gujarat
Assam
Solan
Karnataka
Little Andaman
Ahmedabad
Guwahati
Madhya Pradesh
Belgaum
Nicobar
Little Rann of Kutch
Majuli Island
Bhopal
Bangalore
North Andaman
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Panna
Telengana
Puducherry
Jaipur
Sikkim East
Delhi
Ranga Reddy
Goa
Ajmer
Sikkim West
Uttarakhand
Hyderabad
Tamil Nadu
Sirohi
Sikkim south
Naintal
Medchal
Chennai
Uttar Pradesh
Meghalaya
Ramnagar
Punjab
Salem
Lucknow
Shillong
Maharashtra
Ludhiana
Nilgiris
Kanpur
Haryana
Nasik
Nagaland
Thiruvarur
West Bengal
Chandigarh
Kerala
Kohima
Thanjavur
Kolkata
Himachal pradesh
Wayanad
Manipur
Bihar
Sunderbans
Una
Arunachal Pradesh
Imphal
Dharbhanga
Chhattisgarh
Sirmaur
Tawang
Tripura
Patna
Raipur
Hamirpur
Itanagar
Agartala
Chamba
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Map not to scale. For visual representation only.
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Special Focus
Uttarakhand
Wipro campus, Bengaluru
Leh, Ladakh
Wipro Sustainability Educator Program We are happy to announce that till
and Water, and engage with local
date, two cohorts of educators have
communities on areas like citizen
Program was launched as a new
been accepted into the program, with
science, local biodiversity registers,
initiative to support grassroots
a total of 13 partner organizations
and learning from nature.
The Wipro Sustainability Educator
environment educators across India.
representing the states of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,
The organizations that our educators
Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh,
belong to are CHINAR, Green Future
broad-based and effective Sustainability
Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat,
Foundation, Samavesh,Vayam,
Educator Networks in the country,
Uttarakhand, and Assam. Between
ElemenTree Education Foundation,
them, we have been able to directly
Ayang, Earthjust, Jhamtse Ghatsal,
work with more than 200 government
TITLI, Hume Centre for Ecology,
and private schools in these regions in
Aripana Foundation, Teach For Green,
the domains of Biodiversity, Waste,
Antral, Himalayan Yeti, and Avishkar
The program aims to create the most
which will be deeply engaged in stewarding Sustainability Education in schools through engagement at scale.
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Capacity Building for the Educators Sustainability education is a niche but vast domain that
knowledge, stakeholder engagement, etc. It is expected
requires one to absorb multiple perspectives, schools of
that Wipro Sustainability Educators will be active
thought, understanding of local contexts, and key
learners and contributors to this process.
trends. Keeping this in mind, the program is intended to be a platform for Wipro Sustainability Educators to
This year we have completed two such workshops:
undertake a journey of learning and capacity building to
• Building a Citizen Science Program (by Nature
strengthen this understanding. To this effect, Wipro Foundation has curated a calendar of domain-specific
Conservation Foundation) • Bare foot Ecology (by Keystone Foundation).
sessions/training that will focus on specific areas like
We also have two upcoming workshops on the topics
facilitation and training skills, enhancing domain
of Partner Principles and Nature based curriculums.
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Rishad Premji
2019 Awards Highlights The Wipro earthian 2019 Annual Awards event was hosted in Bangalore at the Wipro SJP2 Auditorium on 8 February, 2019. It was attended by over 250 participants, including school and college teams, Wipro Senior Management, Wipro Employees, and program partners.
Sonam Wangchuk
The main highlight of the program was the felicitation of 28 winning and shortlisted teams from schools and colleges by Rishad Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd, and a much looked forward to interactive Q&A session between him and the audience. Key Speaker- Sonam Wangchuk Sonam Wangchuk gave an inspirational talk about his journey as an environmentalist and entrepreneur and informed the audience on local resilience, Climate Change, and its threats in Ladakh. The 3rd edition of the Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz National Finals featured 6 regional finalist teams and saw teams from IIM Kozhikode, IIT Kharagpur and NIT Trichy take the top 3 positions. The day ended with a brilliant performance by the folk-rock band Swarathma who touched upon social issues through their songs. Folk-rock band Swarathma
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Continuous Engagement Program (CEP)
conducted a three-day Bio-Cultural Camp at the Sunderbans in West Bengal. A group of 40 students and 9 teachers took part in the workshop who were the winning schools from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal.
Similarly, with our partner organizations we have curated multiple such experiences over the years in locations like the Sahyadris , BR Hills, Yelagiri, Katarniaghat WLS, and the Andamans.
Testimonials from teachers and students
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:
Katarniaghat WLS
School CEP The school CEP is about field–based learning and experiences. We believe that sustainability education is most effective when taught outside of the classroom. Our Field Orientation Workshops are conducted every year for the winning schools by our partners. They are usually 3-day workshops and cover a wide range of topics like place-based education, livelihoods, local biodiversity, etc. Last year our partner Centre for Environment Education (CEE)
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• Build capacity and co-create educational practices • Devise multiple platforms for meaningful engagement for faculty and students • Initiate action on sustainability issues
Aniket Ojha, XII
Nandani Rathore
My entire experience of participating in this camp was very excellent. I was amazed to observe nature so closely. The visiting site was very pleasing, and the sky watching activity was excellent. I also had a chance to interact with students from other States who speak different languages.
The biodiversity of Sunderbans is impressive. Conservation and conflict issues raise deep concern among us. The livelihood of local people, interaction with them is so much thought-provoking.
Budge P.K. High School, Kolkata
Head Teacher Primary School Rajapur, BKT, Lucknow
• Build institutional sensitivity and awareness on an ongoing basis.
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College CEP
Wipro Sustainability Internships Over 7 years we have offered a
organizations that include- CSTEP,
Energy integration, and Climate
diverse and unique range of
WRI, BIOME, CDP, TRUCOST and
Modelling.
sustainability internships to
CHINAR amongst others.
college students in our network. It is an opportunity to engage with interesting paradigms, schools of thought, and innovations in the sustainability arena. The internships are undertaken for 2 months and are offered through our ecosystem of expert partner
Since the launch of the internship
Internships range from thematic
program, 92 students have
areas such as Rainwater
completed internships with our
Harvesting, Natural Capital
partners, with 2019 having the
Accounting, Biodiversity studies,
highest intake of 22 interns. In 2020,
Environmental Policy and
15 interns have completed their
Governance, Green Building,
internships.
Aquifer Mapping, Renewable
Development of Academic Literature It has emerged from our interactions with the higher education space that there is a lot of interest shown in the development and production of a variety of knowledge assets relevant to sustainability in Higher Education.
This includes handbooks on pedagogic practices, case study development, compendiums of best practices, teaching guidelines, etc. We hope to facilitate the development of such literature across disciplines.
IIM Bangalore Over the years, IIMB and Wipro have embarked on a broad-based collaboration on Sustainability Education that aims to build valuable intellectual assets through joint programs including research, projects, internships, curricular work, conferences, etc. This year we continue to support IIM-B in two key programs:
On YouTube – Listen to what our interns have to say about their experience
a) Faculty-led research on Business and Human Rights- with the objective of creating a comprehensive framework that aids assessing for human rights impact assessment for businesses through select sectors and firms, which could be made available as online modules with customizable content that can
Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz
be tailored on sector/geography. This year a new line of research through a Human Right Impact Assessment (HRIA) seeks to answer, "How does the organization or policy or project affect human rights?" with focus on HRIA not at a firm level but the level of the sector. What does corporate responsibility to respect human rights mean in practice? What is the step taken towards this direction?
The Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz for colleges was
b) Wipro Sustainability Student Fellowship- to support a fellowship to one doctoral student at IIM-B who
launched in 2015. This is the only college quiz in the
wishes to research in the field of sustainability. Under this, we also support a Fellowship Award for one
country dedicated to sustainability and is an initiative to
N.S. Ramaswamy (NSR) pre-doctoral fellow student studying at IIM-B. Through this, we hope to provide
increase the basic knowledge quotient and enthusiasm
opportunities for students at B-schools to seriously engage with the domain of sustainability and
in understanding this theme.
simultaneously build institutional capability.
The quiz questions are curated from a wide range of topics under the broad umbrella of Sustainability,
IIM Ahmedabad
Renewable Energy Sources, Solid Waste Management, Urban mobility, Green Tech, Green Building and
We have collaborated with IIM, Ahmedabad to develop and publish a Sustainability Case Study
Architecture, Water Management, latest trends in
compendium to be used by B-schools across India for disseminating industry best practices in sustainability
Sustainability, etc, and the latest trends in sustainability.
as well as for promoting classroom learning.
Over the last five years the quiz has been launched in many of the top colleges in India, including, IITs, IIMs, NITs, and BITS. We have seen unprecedented participation levels with 40 quizzes, 3800 teams, and 7600 students from these colleges.
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Hear from our quiz finalists
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Upcoming Events
CEPT University We have embarked on academic collaboration with CEPT University to develop a first of its kind compendium of sustainability case studies as a pedagogic tool for the urban planning discipline to be used as a reference for classroom learning in planning schools. It has been an excellent collaborative exercise with key contributions from more than a dozen top faculty from top planning schools across India. While all the cases have been completed, we hope to set in motion the publication process at the CEPT University Press later this year that will allow us to start the process of dissemination to planning schools across the country.
IIT Bombay We entered into a collaboration with CTARA (Centre for Appropriate Technologies in Rural Areas) to explore an advocacy-related collaboration featuring: Publication of a book that compiles the genesis, main elements of CTARA's T&D (Technology & Development) course, experiences, and how other engineering institutes can incorporate elements of the same in their course design/offering to build empathy, intersectional understanding, and domain knowledge. This compendium is expected to be a resource for faculty, students, and other stakeholders in the domain of Technology and Development Education. Primarily, it is expected that the book will provide an idea about the CTARA course (TD609) that involves a nine-week-long field stay in teams of two/three post-graduate students, to understand the ground realities of rural India. We expect that this unique compendium of sustainable development-focused research by engineering students will be ready for dissemination by year-end and turn into a valuable guide for engineering institutes that might want to go down the same path.
Our other ef forts include
The 10th edition of the Wipro earthian Annual Awards will be held virtually this year, but with an equally exciting range of speakers, interactions and events. Stay tuned for the
As part of our CEP we continue to support the distribution of Current Conservation magazine to 700
date announcement!
schools across India.
We will be launching the 6th edition of the Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz later this International Conference on Sustainability Education - Wipro participated in the 1st International Conference on Sustainability Education in Delhi and was part of two panels on reforming education systems for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and documenting action-oriented programs in ESD. At this conference, we hosted and moderated a standalone breakout discussion on
year. We are taking the quiz online with live broadcast of the quizzes from the quarter finals onwards and a massive 22 rounds of high octane quizzing ending with the finals and bumper prize! Stay tuned for more updates..
sustainability and college education.
Looking Ahead
Interesting reads JOSE, PD. Sustainability Education in Indian Business Schools: A Status Review. AD-minister, Medellín, n. 28, p. 255-272, June 2016.
Click here
Ten years of Wipro earthian has shown us that the need for Sustainability Education in our school and college education systems is critical and continues to remain. We aim to expand our audience, deepen and diversify
Monbiot, G. (2013, October 7). The Guardian. The problem with education? Children aren't feral enough | Education | The Guardian.
Click here
our engagement platforms, and build capacity in Sustainability Education. We hope that these efforts will create a family of educational institutes, teachers, students, and individuals committed to learning, sharing
Rajan, S. (2015, June 17). The Hindu: Where are the engineers?
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Click here
experiences, and stewarding this movement in the right direction.
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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 Cover Photo by Joel De La Cruz from Pexels.