First ‘climate change’ school network comes up in Kashi

In an attempt to educate schoolchildren about the ill effects of unfavourable weather conditions, a network of five ‘climate change’ schools (CCS) has come up in the temple town under the Kyoto-Varanasi Partner City Agreement.

SEEDS Asia, an NGO in Japan, has developed the network in association with the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development (IESD), Banaras Hindu University.

The five climate change institutions include Swami Atulanand School, Agrasen Kanya Inter College, Central Hindu School, Aryan International and a school at Rajghat.

Two teachers each from the climate change schools will undergo a training in disaster risk reduction and ways to deal with climate change to reduce the negative impact of extreme weather on children.

A team of Japanese experts, in association with IESD professors, will impart training to 40 teachers, including 10 from CCS and 30 from educational institutions in the vicinity of climate change schools.

Teachers from climate change schools, who have been selected for training, have suggested two names of their counterparts from the institutions in their vicinity.

Titled as ‘Participatory community-based disaster risk reduction approaches’, the training on climate change and disaster risk reduction will be given to the teachers of CCS network institutions and their counterparts at Swatantrata Bhawan, BHU, on April 16 and 17.