Education for Change

Western Ghats Eco Club Scheme

The ‘Special Eco-club Scheme for the Western Ghat region of Maharashtra’ has been initiated by the Environment Dept, Govt of Maharashtra. It aims to enhance understanding about natural and cultural heritage, to inculcate conservation values, and to promote positive actions by school children in the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. The Scheme reaches schools in the 63 talukas from the 12 districts of Maharashtra that have whole or part of their area within the Sahyadris.

The school activities under the Scheme include exploration of biodiversity and cultural heritage, energy conservation, solid waste management, and sharing of experiences and outreach activities through eco-club festivals. Some glimpses of the same are shared below.

For more information write to sahyadri@ceeindia.org

Students from Kolheshwar Madhyamik Vidyalaya, 

Tandudwadi-Mangalapur, Satara are maintaining a 

composting unit to procure organic manure for use 

in nursery at school.

On a field visit, the students of Little Flower 

English Medium school Morewadi, Kolhapur, 

stop to observe the nesting behavior and 

role of termites in nature.

Students from Vaman Govind Patwardhan High 

school, Pochari, Ratnagiri testing drinking water 

quality by H2S strip test. The findings mostly 

showed fecal contamination which was shared 

with the villagers and a plan developed to 

avoid the same.

Monsoon season brings about many seasonal flowers 

with it. The eco-club members from Jilha Parishad 

Shala, Kalamvihira, Jawahar, visited area near 

school to identify and document these monsoon herbs 

and wild vegetables.

As an alternate to plastic, students of Jijamata 

girls High School Satana, Nashik, promote articles 

prepared from paper pulp that is made from paper 

waste generated in school.

Students of Agasti Junior College, Akole have “hands on” 

session on grafting. The schools plans to propogate 

and conserve local varieties of Mango, Jackfruit, Jamun, 

Ber, Sapota and Tamarind by this method. 

Photograph Courtesy: Rajashri Injamuri, Suhas Waingankar, Shruti Kulkarni, Praveen Thete, Mohamad Hanif, Baswant Dhumane