Minutes of the Meeting of
CMS Environment Coordinators’ Professional Learning Community
Monday, 19 February 2018 at 1:00 PM
Venue: Board Room, President’s Secretariat
A monthly review meeting of all CMS Environment Coordinators was held on Monday, 19th February 2018. Mr Roshan Gandhi Forouhi chaired the meeting and welcomed all the coordinators.
Report from Station Road Campus and Kanpur Road Campus about the awards they won:
Mr Roshan Gandhi Forouhi congratulated the coordinators of both the campuses for winning such prestigious awards and creating awareness amongst the students. Station Road bagged the Paryavaran Mitra Award whereas Kanpur Road won the Wipro Earthian Award on the important theme of Biodiversity. Mr Roshan requested the coordinators of the two campuses to share with others the details and format of the competition. He emphasized the fact that the coordinators through their tremendous efforts are not only protecting the environment but also educating and sensitizing children. He reiterated that our focus must be on action-oriented projects.
Mr Kailash Keswani of Aliganj I shared the great news about the SAEVUS Eco-Achievers Olympiad. He has been chosen for the Best Teacher Award for 2017-18 and was felicitated in Mumbai. He has been awarded on the basis of his contribution towards environment. Respected Principal, Mrs Jyoti Kashyap, was honoured with the Best Principal Award and 4 students of Aliganj I were selected among the Top 10 Students in the country addressing environmental issues.
Report from other campuses:
Asharfabad Campus: Various activities were conducted wherein the students were sensitized about environment. Personal trash cans, pen stands, cloth dusters and paper mats were made from waste material. Street play on 'swachh bhaarat' was performed in the assembly and orphanage. Students made presentations talking about their concerns for the environment. Students got the water survey questionnaire filled by visitors; analyzed the reports and made the charts. They compared the water consumption of two months. Collages were made depicting mother earth's love. Students were taken to Science city and learnt to fix electronic devices and the scientific facts related to the environment. Students had a discussion on global warming, its effect on polar bears, and yet another on the advantages of recycling and painted posters with slogans. Students had a discussion on their New Year resolutions for protecting the environment and made paintings with slogans.
Chowk Campus: On 4th January 2018, students of junior section went to distribute woolen clothes to the needy people at St. Mother Teresa old age home at Saproo Marg. The coordinator mentioned that we must try to be inclusive towards the environment.
Many of the coordinators shared various community welfare work which the campuses are doing under the Junior Youth Empowerment Programme. Mrs. Kavita Shahi shared that the JYEP team, on every last day of the month visit out to the society for some society service. The coordinator of Indira Nagar informed that their JYEP team recently visited Animal Ashram (Jeev Aashraya).The excursion was informative and gave the students a lot of ideas, students from classes 3-10 also provided a lot of medical supplies, food, etc. A number of junior youth from class 6 looked after the donations, collecting and sorting them and assisting in other ways. Mrs. Anupama Johari shared that they observed International Year of Pulses in 2016 and the final culmination was in the form of charity to “Prasadam” where they offer food to the attendants of sick people at the hospital. She said she will be sharing the contact number so that anyone else who is interested can also visit the place.
Gomti Nagar Campus I: Children of junior section participated in quiz competition conducted by discovery channel & won prizes. On 12 December, the Programme Director of Centre of Environment Education, Dr. Pramod Kumar Sharma visited the campus to meet all the Swacchata dal members. He had interactive session with the members & gave the badges to all. He was very happy to find the work done by the members & appreciated their efforts. On International Civil Aviation Day, students of preprimary section visited the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport to understand the importance of aviation, especially international air travel which leads to social & economic development of the world. Budding scientist of junior section made a temperature monitor& LED circuit, earlier they had made a robot. Junior section celebrated Meatless Day by preparing delicious snacks & encouraging each other to eat more vegetables & cereals as they have equal high protein values. A skit was presented in the assembly depicting the importance of healthcare. Saevus Olympiad was conducted in the school in October and many students won laurels. They did activities on personal health and hygiene.
Mr. Roshan Gandhi said that it is important to link personal hygiene and its effects on the environment and perform skits or activities related to the same. Mr. Kailash Keswani shared that he once did a softboard on Health & Hygiene conducted by Centre for Environment Education (CEE). He said that his eco club conducts random check-up of bad odour, nail cut, polished shoes, untidy uniform, etc. Anand Nagar shared that they did the same project conducted by CEE in their campus too. They have cleanliness motors.
Rajajipuram Campus II: Various activities were conducted in the month of December & January. Pre -Primary Model Class Presentation was based on the topic, ' Nurture the Nature for our Future' in which pledge was taken by the parents with their children to protect our mother Earth. Poster making competition was conducted for class 7 & 8. Mock Evacuation Drill was conducted to check the alertness of the students and the staff. Issues regarding the protection of environment and our role towards it were taken in the assembly.
New Project for this year:
Out of the four topics given for this year’s project, it was decided to have ‘Sanitation & Hygiene’ as the yearly environment project for the academic session 2018-19. The other topics were: Organic farming, Waste Management and Electricity Conservation.
Mr Roshan Gandhi suggested to also do work for Electricity Conservation side by side. We should motivate children to reduce electricity consumption.
Report about Integrated Learning:
In the last meeting, the environment coordinator of Asharfabad campus showed the scrap book which the students have made on Integrated learning. Respected President praised the effort made. The issue taken up was that of environmental issues such as air pollution and the concepts were taught through integration of the environmental issues with various school subjects, such as mathematics, JYEP, physics, chemistry, biology, computer, etc. It was shown to all the coordinators to take ideas from it and do the same in their respective campuses.
Few coordinators tried to do it in their classes. For e.g., Mrs Anupama Johari of Jopling Road shared that in Geography of Class 8, a chapter about Flora and Fauna has strong links with topics such as Project Tiger, Wildlife Board, Wildlife Sanctuaries, etc. The students shared information about endangered animals. In Class 6, related to Bio Soil, students prepared soil profiles in used jam bottles. Soil conservation methods were discussed and informative media from Tata Class Edge was also shown for reinforcement of the concepts. She said that the Integrated Learning makes understanding solid for the students and stays with them. It should be ‘Learning By Doing’.
If anyone did any project to measure the amount of electricity or water consumed per child:
Few coordinators shared whatever they have been able to do for the same. Asharfabad campus did for Water and Aliganj I for electricity conservation.
The meeting concluded with a congratulatory remark from Mr Roshan Gandhi Forouhi.