New Delhi: Climate change is a reality, and to mitigate its risks and prepare future generations for it, Dettol has undertaken the project of building climate-resilient schools in India over the next few years. The mission is to create a cadre of environmentally conscious children who will act as catalysts for creating climate-resilient schools and communities. The project goals integrate the objectives of the Mission LiFE initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.
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During the launch of season 10 of Banega Swasth India on October 2, Reckitt, world’s leading consumer health and hygiene company, unveiled the second Climate Resilient school – Government Girls Upper Primary School Ratura, Block Augustmuni, Rudraprayag, in the Kedarnath region of Uttarakhand. The school has been established in partnership with PLAN India under the project Dettol School Hygiene Education Program. The first Climate Resilient School was launched in Uttarkashi, earlier this year, on World Environment Day.
The climate-resilient school is equipped with collateral for students. These include:
- Eco-friendly stationery items
- Colour-seed pencils
- Seed pencils
- Paper pens
- School bags made out of recycled materials
- Jute bags
- Dustless Chalks
- Climate-resilient T-shirt and a cap
The school infrastructure has an action-based climate change curriculum to ensure various aspects of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience building are encompassed. The curriculum offers environmental education and workshops on:
- Eco-Sensitisation Walks
- Waste Management
- Water and Energy Management
- Sustainable Lifestyle
- Climate Cell
The curriculum has activity-based learning modules and is designed by the Nature Science Initiative organisation. With this curriculum, Dettol aims to encourage observation and sensitisation towards the environment among students.
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Mission LiFE Club At Climate Resilient School
The school also has a Mission LiFE Club, also known as a green club, under which several campaigns and workshops are run on awareness campaigns, recycling and waste management, segregating and composting, water and energy conservation, and tree plantation, among others. The club also conducts community outreach programmes and commemorates major environmental days.
The Mission LiFE club consists of 10–15 members involved in club activities, including two faculty members. The club will have a team of officers comprising a President, Vice President and Secretary, who will be elected annually by the club members. Mission LiFE club members will meet once a week for the purpose of forward planning.
The Climate Resilient School project is being implemented in three phases, starting this year till 2025. It will cover all 13 districts of Uttarakhand.
Here is a phase-wise coverage of the 13 districts:
Year 1 – 3 districts: Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli
Year 2 – 4 districts: Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun, Haridwar
Year 3 – 6 districts: Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Almora, Nainital, Tehri & Paur
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
