Students of two rural Goa schools win nat’l awards for sustainability projects

Panaji: A team of students from a govt school and another rural school from Goa won awards for their sustainability projects at the national level recently. The team from Govt High School, Navelim, mapped the use of water on the school campus in great detail and created a visual representation of it.
The students also undertook experimentation in drip irrigation with waste containers.
The team won in the 14th edition of Wipro Earthian Awards held at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. The awards are the conclusion of an annual programme designed to promote sustainability education and recognise Indian schools and colleges that actively promote sustainable action and thinking.
At the awards, it was noted that the project of Govt High School, Navelim, showed accurately the visual representation of the balance between the quantity and the quality of water sourced and disposed of.
Harmal Panchakroshi Higher Secondary School, Harmal-Pernem, also won an award. The team conducted detailed visual documentation of biodiversity on the school campus.
The interconnectedness between the elements of biodiversity on the campus was displayed.
“The team showed good understanding of the factors that connect biodiversity and human well-being. They also explored micro flora and fauna in detail,” it was noted by the judges.
Anurag Behar, the head of Azim Premji Foundation, and Narayan P S, the global head of sustainability and social initiatives at Wipro and managing trustee of Wipro Foundation, felicitated the winning teams with certificates and cash prizes.
Wipro Earthian is a sustainability education programme for schools and colleges. The 2024 edition received over 1,500 project submissions, of which 23 winning and 43 shortlisted entries were selected by an independent jury.
The teams from the winning schools were awarded for demonstrating a deep understanding of biodiversity, waste and water, through a combination of activity-based learning programmes and written essays.
“Bringing students and teachers together from schools spread across the country, the Wipro Earthian programme is designed to generate action-based learning that celebrates the underlying connectedness of the individual with the larger fabric of community and nature,” said Narayan. “We continue to be inspired by the spirit of resilience and optimism we see in our young citizens.”