Scholarships for students to inculcate green sensibility

The Local Self-Governments department and the General Education department together plan to launch a scholarship to nurture a generation of students who can become ambassadors of clean surroundings.

The Vidyarthi Haritha Sena (Green Army of Students) scholarship, tentatively named ‘Ecosense 2025,’ is being mulled against the backdrop of the ‘Malinyamuktham Navakeralam’ scheme being implemented by the State government.

The scholarship stems from the understanding that children can become catalysts for change. Its objectives are scientific waste management, development of green skills, finding novel solutions to local waste management challenges, and reducing the quantity of waste through efforts of children.

SCERT books

The scholarship builds on the ideas contained in books on waste management brought out by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) for high school students and the lessons on waste management that have been included in work-integrated education for upper primary students.

The scholarship will be given to students from Classes VI to IX and to Plus One students. Discussions on the number of scholarships and the amount are under way, though an amount of ₹1,000 or ₹1,500 and a citation for 50,000 students is under consideration.

Teachers will have a significant role to play in the selection of students. Local bodies and the Suchitwa Mission will also be involved in awarding of the scholarships.

One of the activities will require students to understand how waste is segregated in their homes and find out if there are enough bins for the segregated waste. If not, they will have to construct bins out of waste material for different kinds of waste and make them attractive.

Four activities each have been given for upper primary, high school, and Plus One students in the guidelines prepared by the General Education department.

Individual activity

Those selected at the school level for the scholarship will then have to take up an individual activity such as making a functional biodegradable waste management system in their house and group activities such as a study of the waste management system in their school and making it more effective.

After the evaluation, students eligible for the scholarship will be given the opportunity to share their experiences and observations at a ‘Suchitwa Padhanotsavam.’