1. The main points of my workplace's sustainable development program
I would like to share the experiences at my previous work place that is a school in India- Ramakrishna Mission Public School. There was no sustainability program as such but most of the proceedings fall in the same category. First was to keep our school surroundings clean. It was particularly difficult because like any other big country, keeping surroundings clean is a big issue. One major issue was during-lunch break. The school does not serve lunch in RM school, but the students have to pack from home and eat in a common dining/assembly hall. The age-groups varied from 6-16 so there is a huge responsibility on the teachers to make sure they do not drop food or throw away on the floor. So we divided ourselves into pairs and each pair gets their turn to monitor on one day every week. Mine was every monday. During my turn, I usually spent my time with the young kids while my partner with the older kids. We organized litter boxes which were the ones thrown by the shops and made the students to throw unwanted bits of food there to be disposed off later. Since our school was in the heart of the city, noise was always a problem but we couldn't do much about it. Teachers had to meet on the first saturday of a month to brainstorm each other's challenges. This was particularly helpful for fresh teachers like me without any prior training experience.
2. How does it affect employees' day to day life or does it?
The school was funded by the Ramakrishna Mission and so we were accountable for every piece of stationary and everything associated with the school. This was the reason that we were very cautious in using stationary, electricity, water etc in the school. Saving electricity like using light and fan when it is absolutely necessary. Water was and is still very precious in India. Particularly in summer months we had to face shortages of water and power. We never used generator unless there is a light failure. Every teacher was asked to maintain a teachers diary where we had to enter the day before all the lessons we plan to take. This would be inspected suddenly by the head of the teacher's squad.
I would like to share the experiences at my previous work place that is a school in India- Ramakrishna Mission Public School. There was no sustainability program as such but most of the proceedings fall in the same category. First was to keep our school surroundings clean. It was particularly difficult because like any other big country, keeping surroundings clean is a big issue. One major issue was during-lunch break. The school does not serve lunch in RM school, but the students have to pack from home and eat in a common dining/assembly hall. The age-groups varied from 6-16 so there is a huge responsibility on the teachers to make sure they do not drop food or throw away on the floor. So we divided ourselves into pairs and each pair gets their turn to monitor on one day every week. Mine was every monday. During my turn, I usually spent my time with the young kids while my partner with the older kids. We organized litter boxes which were the ones thrown by the shops and made the students to throw unwanted bits of food there to be disposed off later. Since our school was in the heart of the city, noise was always a problem but we couldn't do much about it. Teachers had to meet on the first saturday of a month to brainstorm each other's challenges. This was particularly helpful for fresh teachers like me without any prior training experience.
2. How does it affect employees' day to day life or does it?
The school was funded by the Ramakrishna Mission and so we were accountable for every piece of stationary and everything associated with the school. This was the reason that we were very cautious in using stationary, electricity, water etc in the school. Saving electricity like using light and fan when it is absolutely necessary. Water was and is still very precious in India. Particularly in summer months we had to face shortages of water and power. We never used generator unless there is a light failure. Every teacher was asked to maintain a teachers diary where we had to enter the day before all the lessons we plan to take. This would be inspected suddenly by the head of the teacher's squad.
3. What are the challenges in sustainable development in my field of work?
The biggest challenges was to have a clear understanding with the parents. In India parents are very demanding and they want to know what is going on with the kids progress and never leave a chance to make their voices heard. This always kept us alert. So we also tried to have one-on- one meeting with the parents at the beginning of the year and give them an idea of what happens throughout the year. At the end of each term, we had exams and the general rule was that the parents should sign on the progress report with the remarks. It was very difficult to make some parents understand that
The biggest challenges was to have a clear understanding with the parents. In India parents are very demanding and they want to know what is going on with the kids progress and never leave a chance to make their voices heard. This always kept us alert. So we also tried to have one-on- one meeting with the parents at the beginning of the year and give them an idea of what happens throughout the year. At the end of each term, we had exams and the general rule was that the parents should sign on the progress report with the remarks. It was very difficult to make some parents understand that
4. How could I teach the principles of sustainable development in my own subject?
My subject being biology, I could easily teach the importance of saving natural resources and keeping the environment clean, while teaching itself. Whenever the opportunity occurred, I made then answer to various problems and heard their views and thoughts. The best way to teach according to me is to follow them myself, otherwise it is equal to reading from a book. As the father of our nation M.K.Gandhi said, 'be the change you wish to see' , I belive in it or try my best to follow.
Thank you Prathusha for sharing your experience. It is really interesting to read how sustainable development is very culturally related. You state that it is easy for you to take SD into consideration when teaching biology. Are there any challenges though?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reply Katarina, you correctly pointed out that SD is culturally related, and global education opened doors for one end of the country to see what happens ans how on the other end. Well I think in the time I was working as a biology teacher in the school, I did stress on environmental conservation in all possible ways I could think of. I encouraged students who lived in one neighbourhood to come by a common source of transport to school. Being a biology teacher I found it easy to speak frequently as and when the opportunity occured. The challenges though are to make them to bring the message from paper to practice and follow through.
DeleteRegards
Prathusha.
Hey prathusha, it was interesting what you said about the motivation behind saving on energy, water and keeping the school you taught very clean. On issues relating to sustainability, i think the mindset of people really matters as it forms their attitude towards sustainable living and actions. If the schools energy saving actions were based on 'fear' of the strict reporting rules required from them by the funding agency, the attitude of the students and the whole school towards these actions would most likely be negative, e.g thoughts like, 'we save energy, water because we are poor'. In my work in International development, this has actually been one of the biggest challenges we face when promoting projects that advocate for sustainability. For example, historically, a lot of African architecture and building material has been known to be very ecological. However, in building projects, people always prefer and want to have structures built of concrete, flushing toilets and electricity from the grid (which is okay if the grid is powered by renewable energy). Old architectural designs and materials are associated with poverty or something only useful to promote tourism. I think to promote sustainable thinking in many developing countries, this mindset needs to be changed.
ReplyDeleteDear Eva thank you for the comment. I will try to answer to the driving force behind the saving of electricity, water for example in Ramakrishna Mission school. It is a charitable institution run by the missionary. There are many institutions, schools,colleges,hospitals etc all around the country. I used the work 'cautious' but not 'afraid' . Cautious meaning, careful, alert, considerate. conservative. Yes we were cautious because, we were careful about not wasting any of the resources because we know that if we waste water in the winter when there is surplus amount, then in the summer we have to suffer severe problems. If the right word is 'fear' then yes we were afraid that we will have to suffer drought conditions but not that there will be no funding if we do not save water and electricity. Less water would lead to long hours of power-cuts in the summer. Here again we save electricity in the power surplus months so that we have less power shut downs during summer months. I call this 'conservation' and a constructive attitude like the ant that saves and collects food during spring and summer so that it can enjoy them in the cozy ant-hill in winter. I also did not say anything about rich and poor, in my opinion rich or poor, all have the equal responsibility to save energy resources. If a rich person says, "I can waste as much water or electricity I want because I am paying for it "then that is NEGATIVE and DESTRUCTIVE attitude in my humble opinion and I cannot accept it.
ReplyDeleteRegards!
Prathusha.
Thanks Prathusha for your post! I agree to the comments here that sustainability is a cultural element. What is general all over the world is the disorganization of real implementation. Sustainability in the RM school is not something that is only on paper - it is a prerequisite for being able to keep the school running and all teachers taking responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge on a global level is the implementation. In a school environment in finland it all seems to be about turning off the lights and recycling paper and garbage. I wonder when sustainability really enters the curriculum and not only particular teachers courses!