TERI signs MoU with Tata Steel Foundation for Phase V of The Green School

New Delhi, September 13: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday in New Delhi to collaborate on implementing the latest stage of The Green School project which aims to create awareness about environment conservation in the school network.

TERI and TSF will collaborate on The Green School project – Phase V which aims to educate and empower young minds in the age group of 12-14 years on water, energy, forest and biodiversity, and waste management to undertake awareness and action projects at school and community levels to develop solutions enabling the creation of a sustainable environment. The Green School project was launched in 2017 by TSF and TERI to work towards creating awareness about environmental conservation in schools through curriculum linkages, action projects, and capacity-building activities.

Signing the MoU, Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, TERI, highlighted the importance of models such as The Green School project in creating awareness of sustainability at the grassroots. “The project has been a pioneer in generating ecological education at the local community level,” Dr Dhawan added. She also said the Green School project is in perfect alignment with the new PM SHRI scheme which has been approved by the Union Cabinet recently.

Mr Chanakya Chaudhary, Director, Tata Steel Foundation said, “This is one of our flagship collaboration where the project works on an issue which has never been more relevant than today, and continue being as inclusive. It will be vital towards the course of this project to revisit our plans and ensure we stay aligned to our goals. We are enroute to making change agents among children in our communities and this is a change for the better that this project is attempting to bring about”.

In his special address, Mr S Vijay Kumar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, noted the enormous significance of the initiative in the long run. “The project is nicely embedded in the narrative of sustainability and climate resilience at the global, national and local level,” he said. Mr Kumar also drew attention to the possibility of the initiative becoming a model that can be replicated.

Mr Sourav Roy, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Steel Foundation said, “As a ground-breaking collaboration for students, we are looking at three broad directions to ensure that this emerges as one-of-its-kind programmes in the years to come: an organic expansion of the project to reach more schools in some of the most remotest and vulnerable parts of the country in terms of vulnerability, try and establish this as a model with TERI which can be replicated and look at this opportunity to create a knowledge platform which addresses pedagogical gap in education”.

As part of the Phase V of The Green School project, a distinct pedagogy will be designed, tested and replicated through project interventions for different categories of schools. In this phase, students will also be motivated to volunteer for students’ social responsibility by promoting their engagement with schools in the neighbourhood and beyond.

About Tata Steel Foundation

Tata Steel Foundation is Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) implementation arm of Tata Steel Limited. TSF is engaged in enabling significant societal advancement through projects within the broad thematic areas of education, energy, health, social justice, environment, skill development, sustainable livelihoods, urban development, and community sports. It believes in the role of citizens towards its vision of an enlightened and equitable society, and partners with likeminded individuals and organizations to unlock greater participation in development.

About TERI

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is an independent, multi-dimensional research organization, with capabilities in policy research, technology development, and implementation. Headquartered in New Delhi, TERI has regional centres and campuses in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Mumbai, Panaji, and Nainital, supported by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, sociologists, economists, engineers, administrative professional and state-of-the-art infrastructure.