of Stewardship in Sustainability Education

Inaugural Issue | Vol. 1, Issue 1, November 2020

THE CANOPY

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'-

03

THE CANOPY

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

04

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.

05

THE CANOPY

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

06

Map not to scale. For visual representation only.

07

THE CANOPY

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.

08

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.

09

THE CANOPY

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

10

11

THE CANOPY

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)

12

• 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.

13

THE CANOPY

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.

14

Hear from our quiz finalists

15

THE CANOPY

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?

16

Click here

experiences, and stewarding this movement in the right direction.

17

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.