Environment Education Bus State Launch
 

After the completion of pilot phase in Bharuch and Surat districts for about four months,  Prakriti was launched for the benefit of whole state by Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat on 30^th September 2005 at Punit Van, Gandhinagar.

Representatives from Gujarat government offices, different organizations, BG India, GGCL, and CEE were present for the launch. Also about 100 students from two nearby schools were present for the programme. The chief guest of the function, Hon. Chief Minister appreciated the step taken through this project. He flagged off Prakriti. He also suggested bus visit to a school, Sanskar Dham, Ahmedabad.

Some environmental activities which included Web of Life, Snakes and Ladders, Break the Pyramid were conducted with the students on the occasion.

During the launch day, bus was visited by four schools. Students from these schools came to Punit Van, where as the bus visited the fourth school.

Environment Education Bus activities

Around 24 schools in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar were visited by the EE Bus during the period. About 9030 students with their teachers from standard 5 to 12, both Gujarati and English medium took part in the Environment Education Bus activities.

 In the schools it was observed that the students were very much interested in such extra curricular activities and initiated discussion by asking questions and requesting for more information. Questions asked referred to environment in Gujarat such as water and electricity, how to protect trees etc.

Participation of Prakriti in Zero Carbon City – North South East West Exhibition

Prakriti was displayed at Law Garden, Ahmedabad for the general public from 22 to 29 October 2005. The aim was to aware Amdavadis about the environmental challenges related to the city involving ones related to day to day life. The occasion was Zero Carbon City – NorthSouthEastWest exhibition, a global awareness campaign focussing on the impacts of climate change.

The exhibition was organized by British Council (Coordinated through British Library, in Ahmedabad) in association with Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation at Law Garden, Ahmedabad. Five schools and some of the colleges from the city participated in different activities organised around the week.

The activities included skits, street plays, discussion workshops, puppet shows etc. CNG driven ‘Prakriti-Environment Education Bus’ was the major attraction for the public. Over the week, about 300 people including the children visited Prakriti. The children as well as their parents were very enthusiastically looking at the exhibition. Questions related to exhibits were asked by the children which shows their interest in information provided through the panels and other communication materials. The children also enjoyed the interactive components of the Bus. 

Other key activities organised with Prakriti included a street play “Suka Talav Na Muwada” (meaning a village with dry ponds) focussing on the importance of rain water harvesting, a mine “Vruksh Bachao” (meaning Save a tree) stating the importance of trees in maintaining the global climate, a puppet show “Maaru Ghar” (meaning My Home) towards the conservation of water, electricity and managing the solid waste at residential level. All these were performed by the members of CYWEN, a local youth group supported by CEE.

The audiences were very much impressed by these programmes and expressed the importance of same to create awareness about environment.

Prakriti at public places in Ahmedabad

The time when the diwali vacations were going on in the schools, the EE bus was taken to the public places in Ahmedabad. These visits were organised keeping in mind the group of people came to these places during the vacations. Around 1000 people were covered during these visits. 

Other than the schools and public places, Prakriti also visited Institute of Management, Nirma University and a slum area, Gulbai Tekra.

Visits to the Forest Villages

During the first week of December 2005, on the request from Gandhinagar Forest Division, Prakriti visited rural areas in Gandhinagar district. The reason was to create awareness among the rural population about the environment and also provide information on initiatives to conserve natural resources. Mainly the schools were covered during the visits which also included two visits where entire village was involved in the activities. Villages covered are part of the Gujarat Government’s Joint Forest Management programme.  

Around 2150 people from the area were contacted and oriented. Bus exhibition, film shows, puppet shows, discussion with the elders of the village are some activities conducted during the visit.

Guests

During one of the Prakriti visit organised at GGCL, Ahmedabad, Sir Robert Wilson, BG group chairman and his wife saw the bus and interacted with the team. While going through the exhibition panels, both Sir Wilson and his wife were happy with the comprehensive information regarding Gujarat Environment and also discussed the process, responses from the students, general community and the implementation strategy. Appreciating the efforts he said “It is a fascinating initiative”

Feedback/ suggestions from students and general community

The requests came from the viewers included requests for providing more information on topics such as the amount of petrol and diesel get wasted if by keeping the vehicle engine on at the traffic signals and the quantity of pollutants emitted during the period; government schemes for purchasing solar equipments, etc. In terms of materials, the people asked about the posters or the printed material including all the information mentioned in the panels. This would help disseminate information further and also prompt them to act. Working models were more preferred as according to them, it gives more project ideas to implement. 

Another demand was to provide training to the teachers on how to teach environment as a subject to the students with simple and effective ways.

The teachers and other school management involved in the activities felt that the time allotted to a school is very short and so requested for revisit of Prakriti.