By Prince Bhagtani and Illustration by Archita Ghadge
Recently, I got to know about something called the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs in short, put forth by the United Nations. These are 17 goals aimed at abolishing social, economic or environmental issues such as Poverty and Inequality faced by countries worldwide. Being a high school student, I found these goals ambitious and intimidating. In a world ruled by these evils, developed over generations, deeply interwoven into the fabric of our everyday lives, can just a few years of attempts at change turn things around? Do we even know where to begin?
P.C.:Archita Ghadge
In the words of Nelson Mandela,“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Quality education is the fourth among these SDGs and in my opinion, one of the first to work towards. Education is the imparting knowledge about the world around us across generations, to equip children with skills and wisdom they would need in their future adult life. In my opinion, global issues require a time-holistic approach; you not only work towards a solution in the present but learn from the past and prepare the next generation who can carry forward this legacy of change. We can view education as a method, a bridge connecting these generations, spanning ages. It is up to us what we use it for. This very diverse nature of education leads me to believe education is our best bet for change.
To confirm my stand and affirm my beliefs, I interviewed Ms Anjali Akware, a climate change activist and environmentalist who is also a teacher with over 20 years of experience.
Ms. Anjali has a diverse career background. After her post-graduation and pre-PHd in wildlife and environmental biology, she initially taught postgraduate students about birds, their behaviour and migration patterns. Later, she shifted to teaching full-time and taught mostly IB curriculum and for a short while, CBSE. Currently, she is teaching IB-PYP, grades 4 and 5. However, all along, she never lost her passion for the environment which she upholds both in and out of the classroom.
For 4 years now, Ms Anjali has been actively participating with her students in the annual Climate Action Project led by the WWF, a global initiative covering 149 nations aimed to allow educators and students to develop solutions to tackle the global issue of Climate Change, the 13th SDG.
She is a part of bird-watching groups, often goes on treks and makes the young ones aware. I asked her how she kindled this flame of passion she shares with the environment in her students.
She said, “Whenever I get an opportunity, I always bring in this element of biodiversity into my teaching so that this love that I have for the environment, percolates down to the kids. When teaching students about ecosystems under something called a Unit of Inquiry which always ends with the topic’s links to SDGs, I researched and found more about Climate Climate change and its role in disturbing biodiversity.”
She did a certification course for the same and thus began her journey of finding answers as to how the climate changes are happening, how it is affecting the biodiversity and the ecosystem, how the ecosystems are vanishing, the impact on the loss of habitat and other similar issues. Gradually paving her way towards becoming a climate change warrior, then a climate change teacher and now a facilitator for other teachers.
She said, “During my research, I came across many people who were going sustainable. After that, all my projects were about sustainable houses, sustainable cities or sustainable use of the resources available. It's been a good journey, but then I feel there's so much that we need to really explore. A lot of people have been changing their whole lifestyle and these changes are visible in the young ones as well.”
She came across Greta Thumbbergs who was 8-9 years old but had already started taking robust action. This formed her views on spreading awareness of global issues in children.
“The younger the better because they will understand that they are not working for the Earth, they are working for their Earth." She thinks that students should understand that they are working towards their future. The young ones, she said, were coming up with those innovative and creative prototypes to solve their real-life problem.
I asked her this year what new challenge she had taken up for the climate action project. She shared how she utilised design thinking, where the kids identified a problem and found a solution through their prototype.
“So if they felt that there was a lot of plastic, that was the problem. Then what can be done with the plastic? So that plastic can be recycled, converted into bird feeders or watering cans.”
I felt this was inspirational. So further on this idea, I asked what teaching methods or resources she found effective in conveying the importance of climate change to students. One of her answers was experiential learning. Last year, they did an activity by making the classroom chilled and letting students sit in there for the whole day. Contrarily, they made it super hot the next day. This exemplified the grave choices of futures they faced due to their present actions. Surely, one has to get first-hand experience to take an action, an authentic action and that is when that 1 little change comes.
It also made me think for a while. What are we as their elders leaving for the upcoming generations? An unlivable, puzzled and unbalanced world which they are supposed to fix?
Another overwhelming experience in her journey of teaching about climate change was with a student named Daksh. He went to a resort during his Diwali vacations where he interviewed the people, the resort manager there, as he felt the resort’s location in the middle of a forest disturbed the ecosystems and biodiversity there. Then he had an interview with that person to understand how they have used sustainable ways like solar or wind power and other ways they are adding to the goodness of the environment. And then he came back and he shared in the class.
“Sometimes it goes beyond the classroom and it is there with them”, she said.
Wow, that's a very interesting attitude! Throughout, one keeps on thinking about sustainability. This very passion that develops in students leads them to come up with innovative ideas about problems of their future, giving them a chance to engage in change at an early age.
The Unit of Inquiry, a core component of IB-PYP, is a class where students are induced with inquisitive facts and knowledge that extends beyond academics and into the real world. The topics usually end with links to SDGs. Since the IB incorporates sustainability in their curriculum I was surprised to know from her that a CBSE school she previously taught came up with amazing well-rounded solutions and activities such as Net Zero; here, they aim to reduce waste production in the school by following the 4Rs.
Recently, they researched, identified and acknowledged women entrepreneurs in the field of each sustainable development goal.
Ms. Anjali believes this exact remake, rethink and rechange thought process will bring in sustainability and transferring this attitude is best achieved through education. Education can raise awareness of dos and don'ts. Education can help gather people, unifying them for a cause. Education can do wonders if imparted unbiased, incorporating these real-world problems.
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