Hasiru Hejje must stamp out the Carbon Footprint of Mankind-Jade Gowda

A teacher sharing her experiences

“The workshop was without doubt a success but will the teachers make use of the methods explained here?” was the response of Ms. Manjula, a teacher who was representing an alternate school in Mysore. She was sharing her views in the valedictory function on the three days workshop for teachers at the RMNH.  Ms. Hemalatha. S of Amrita Vidyalaya felt that the workshop was an eye opener for many teachers and these efforts of Hasiru Hejje must grow as ‘Vamana hejje’.

The days guest Mr. Jade Gowda, Asst, Professor in Botany at the Forestry College at Ponnampete in Coorg. Accompanying the Scientist in-charge of the museum Mr. Yogendra and the education Staff Mrs. Mujeba Khanum, on the dais felt happy for such humble efforts are still on. Hailing from the Soliga Tribal community he is the fist person to reach university and complete his Ph.D. Being the first generation of his community to meet up with the civilized world and take to their life styles, he had many ups and downs. He was one of the six tribal children playing upon the forest trees who were pulled down by the famous Doctor Mr. Sudarshan in the eighties to be educated in the modern ways. He narrated his illustrative journey from childhood professor hood. He recalled how wonder struck he was when he saw a tar road for the first time from above his father shoulder. “I wondered why and who made this scar on Mother Earth!”

His deep interest in the forests prompted him to choose Forestry as a subject to Agricultural sciences for his carrier. His academic excellence has made him be part of the noble job of putting across a hundred Range Forest officers into service across Karnataka. He has presented several papers in universities across the globe and stands as a testimony to the commitment of a good teacher and a student as well. Apart from being a good teacher himself, he is an active promoter of Nature related activities within the campus. He has a special interest in rescuing wild Orchids. Being up the Western Ghats, a home for hundreds of orchids, he picks up every one of them thrown astray by the wood cutters. Orchids when strewn on the forest floor become orphans; they don’t survive at lower heights. He does the rescue operations along with students.

Dr. Jade Gowda addressing the teachers

In his very emotional speech, he humbly requested the teachers to give ample opportunity to children to involve in the every day mysteries in Nature. Text books are always there and can be read anytime! He felt that small deeds will carry a long way and in the present day context of rampant use of Natural resources and the basic raw materials becoming a commodity to be rationed there is no other go he said.

The Jubilant Group! 

WATER FOR LIFE: THE EXISTENTIAL TRUTH

Third day of the Teacher’s Training Program.

 -Harsha P S

It is July and the sky should be covered with rain clouds and monsoon should have been in its optimum.  The rivers and reservoirs should have been brimming with water, Lands should have been looking green & people should have been sighing with relief. But the present day picture is drastically opposite.  Everyone is worried of not having enough rains & how to meet the basic need of life-WATER.

  

Distribution of water: Percentage of water

Water is the life Source on planet Earth & without water there can be no life imagined. Water forms the basic essence for all living forms. Water is not just a chemical component, water, as it is for any form of life also holds the story of mankind on this earth. It holds the key to his future. With such a prologue, Mr. U.N. Ravi Kumar, who is a Water management consultant and the Founder of CENTRE for APPLIED RURAL TECHNOLOGIES (CART), began his talk on the existing WATER ISSUES our country is facing today. The present challenges of meeting the growing demand for water and the imminent threats for future if we don’t take measures in containing the growing problem.

U.N Ravikumar speaking on water

He explained that our Indian history is laced with great many cultures & one among them is the culture of water conservation & harvesting. The examples of water conserving culture dates back to 4500 years ago in the Indus valley civilization, in a place called DHOLAVIRA fort, in the Ran of Kutch, Gujarat. It is one of the worlds earliest and the best planned water conservation model existed at those times. It showcased the ingenuity of the civilization’s social engineering. The Jaigarh fort, Jaipur in Rajasthan also had an efficient water harvesting systems where the largest tank had a capacity to store up to 6 million gallons of water. And in the south, the Vijayanagara Empire had the culture of constructing huge temple tanks to store water.

  

 

Ancient traditional water storage

His talk took us back into the historic time scale when WATER HARVESTING was practiced in our villages as a traditional wisdom. The culture of attributing reverence for Water and safeguarding it as a sacred wealth was once widely prevalent. He gave the picture of villages where water is harvested in ponds for daily requirements. This traditional wisdom of conserving water & sanctifying it can be still witnessed today in the temple "Kalyani’s".

He brought these examples to illustrate our present culture of abusing water utility & our attitude towards water as a commodity. He called it as GUTTER CULTURE.  He gave statistics of water usage in our houses, where the maximum percentage of potable water goes into flushing (40%), washing (25%) & bathing (23%), ironically the required water for drinking & cooking is around 3 to 4%.

 

Water wastage information

 The percentage average of water consumption in a country like India reads like this, 8% of water goes into domestic consumption, 10% for industry & the maximum 82% is used in agriculture. This brings a real picture of the WATER FOOTPRINT, the individual, society & the country is giving out, for it measures the water consumptive mode. The global water footprint over the past thirty decades is increasing every year at an alarming rate. As human civilization is progressing towards industrious nature, its exponential growth is directly impacting the water resources all around.

He cautioned that the way we as individual & society are using water defines the bleak future of water available for human existence.

The lecture touched on the topics of “grey water”, (the water discharged from houses after its consumption), which is getting dumped into the ponds, lakes & rivers which are killing diverse life forms which are dependent on these, such as the fishes, frogs & the birds. His talk highlighted the importance of wetland ecosystem which is biologically a diverse ecosystem and plays an important role in the water cycle. He coined them as the kidneys of the earth, for it functions as the purifier of the water.

Intensification of irrigation year by year is severely decreasing water table. Studies reveal that the ground water table of Mysore is falling at a steady pace of 1.5ft annually. In such a situation how the lakes could be thriving?  Wetlands are getting deeply impacted.

The scene is even more alarming at the global scale. The anthropogenic impact on the environment is reaching at its tipping point.

The ISSUE of WATER SECURITY & SCARCITY is at the prime defining moment for human sustenance. It may in future lead to a war of water.  To check this global catastrophe he urged the answer is in locally adapting traditional water harvesting models. Mr. Ravi Kumar mentioned several rain water harvesting methods practiced around Mysore city, including his own house. Institutionally he has successfully implemented in many villages, educational institutions and industries.

 

Thinking of a water war!

He outlined how the city of Mysore had many lakes such as Karanji, Kukkarahalli & Dalavoy lakes which were constructed to cater not only the agriculture community but to meet the growing need of an expanding city. At the same time he regretted that such beautiful lakes are being ignored and let to die. They are encroached upon, polluted with urban filth, land filled with debris!  The people who should have protected it have forgotten their importance. Sheer neglect and mismanagement have taken them to a point of no return. Today so much is being invested to revive it back in vain.

He concluded his talk saying that the future of human world rests with all of us and the teachers have a great role in passing this message to the children, who will be the next inhabitants of this planet earth.  

Third day of the Workshop-Theatrical skills in Education: Teachers should become Children says Bhavani

Bhavani demonstrating

The third and final day of the workshop was set aside for more of hands on activities. Bhavani Prakash a graduate of Nee na sam is a talented actor and a humanist. Soon after college she was selected on the year long Tirugaata (a series of repeat performances round the state). She was in the lead role of all the three plays chosen for that year and attracted many directors. Like she entered the small screen, she saw its heights and packed for good. Cinema had seen her talent and gave her preference while a special character was needed for the story. With a couple of Awards at the National level she now has a few films on hand that gives her enough time to enjoy gardening spending time with children. After five years she had time to get back to conducting Workshops.

 

Cows out of the cattle shed!

The Museum which is grim and silent most of the time started bubbling with laughter and joy when she addressed the teachers. They opened up for her joyful ways of introducing skills and volunteered to perform before the others.

Bhavani and the holy cow!

 After a brief round of warming up session she divided the team into three and asked them to improvise upon the story of Punyakoti. Each of the teams was given some time for rehearsal and later on they performed a sequence each. The teachers were seen at the height of creativity.  They improvised upon properties for a cow and the tiger alike. Leaves of Frangipani became the ears of cows while dry twigs became the horns. 

Punyakoti play!

Bhavani tells us that on many occasions’ teachers themselves have inhibitions and need to be worked with first. Many times the perception that teachers have is that theatre is something too performance-oriented which is an expert’s domain. Not a common old lad’s cup of tea. 

The cow and the tiger

This attitude often holds back many teachers. Her solution for this would be to get the teachers involved in activities to experience how drama is ‘done’ and later they can experiment with it for themselves. Many teachers, she says would not even have explored the possible frills they could get upon their faces and how would they know what each of those mean to an interacting person.

Teachers playing the cows!

The possible pedagogical value of Theater in Education is yet to be explored to its fullest potential. However, language, environment, social sciences are parts of the curriculum that can be easily transacted through various aspects of dramatics. 

Vani and Bhavani : All smiles!

Addressing LEARNING DISABILITY IN CHILDREN in Class room situation

Psychologist with participants

Ms. Champa Jaiprakash, Clinical psychologist, illustrated several case studies of children with LD and narrated how they succeeded in life. From a genius of all times like Da’ Vinci to the greatest of scientists like Albert Einstein; from a statesman like Vincent Churchill to an actor like Ahishek Bachan over came and lived with LD. Studies reveal that at least 10% of the school population in India is known to be living with this disability.

Identification and addressing such children at an early age is the key for successful remedy. She quoted the example of the Hindi movie, "TAARE ZAMEEN PAR" that deals with a child with learning disability.  He suffers silently in the normal setup until one drawing teacher observes & identifies his learning disability. Through affection and proper training he successfully brings back the child to mainstream. This movie was an eye opener to the parents and the School fraternity of this country to understand the issue of learning disability and address it effectively. In fact experts in this field are getting more number of children with LD for remedies.

 Taking this classic example she addressed the teaching fraternity on how to identify such children at an early age & correct. They will diagnose the degree of learning anomaly & suggest suitable therapy. The session had detailed studies on the existence of learning disability in children, their different types with characteristic symptoms, the reasons behind it & finally the remedies which will rectify the problem.  She highlighted the importance of teachers who are regarded as the second parents to the children's, and therefore with proper training can be instrumental in bringing about the creative potential of a child catered with love & affection. For each child is born with a unique ability & all may not perfectly fit into the structured frame of the learning system. So each child has to be given the freedom to learn according to their abilities & Central board of Secondary education is addressing such special children without being left off from their peer groups.

 

A session on learning disability

She pinpointed that connecting these children with nature is also an integral part in correcting their disability. Bonding with nature will build confidence in expressing its feelings without any hesitation. She also cautioned on what might happen if such children are not addressed at an early stage. They may in course of time become self destructive and fall prey to bad elements of the society.

            It was a hot afternoon and a delicious meal could have put anybody to drowsiness, but once the session progressed it became one of the best experiences, the participants had in this workshop. The session made the participants sit up & take notice of the prevalence of such children in their schools. The lecture gave them the necessary inputs required to address Learning disability issues among their children & how to correct them at the elementary level. Ms. Champa Jaiprakash gave an insight on how the teachers can be change makers in the life of a child with learning disability. With proper guidance the relationship between the teachers and children may turn into a wonderful experience. She finished her talk by citing a relevant quote by Annette Funicello- “NOBODY HAS TO BE BORN PERFECT TO BE WONDERFULL".

-Harsha

Day 2 of Teacher's Training Program: Field Visit

The Green March to Chamalapura

Chamalapura, a tiny place in a geographical context is around 30km south west to the city of Mysore. It was hardly known to the urban folk until the Govt. of Karnataka proposed to sanction a 1000 MW coal based thermal plant there in 2007-08.

View of Chamalapura

This village is geographically sandwiched between rivers Cauvery & Kabini and has network of around 80 lakes lying within the radius of 8 km. The village is significant as the two most crucial wildlife habitats, Rajiv Gandhi national park at Nagarhole & Bandipur tiger reserve are found around 25-30 km. The villagers have a simple agrarian based lifestyle encompassing biodiversity rich fertile area, with their main crop cultivation of cereals such as ragi, millets & pulses such as cowpea & cotton as a commercial crop.

Yet this area was chosen by the Govt to install a thermal plant citing that the area is barren & has no significant ecological importance. This episode started a strong environmental movement by the green thinkers & the concerned group of citizens from all walks of life of the Mysore city against the proposed plan. It was the beginning for a full fledged battle for environmental conservation.

Though many might say the proposed plant would have provided electricity to our energy deficit state but the cost one has to pay is in terms of habitat destruction, as the power plant would consume 3000 acres of fertile area including 600 acres of forest land. The village’s bio-diversity rich areas get directly affected resulting in degradation of the fertile soil, the water bodies & the ground water. The native plants & animals will be permanently destroyed in the longer run. Also, around 13,000 people would have been displaced in & around the village. This would have created havoc to the people residing near to the plant site by damaging their health.

The effects of the thermal power plant wasn’t limited the village and its vicinity, the beautiful city of Mysore, its residents would also bear the brunt as air pollution levels would have increased. Also, there would be an increase in the city temperature which in turn affects the balanced climatic pattern of the region. The city roads would have continuously borne the truckloads of coal being carried to the plant which had to be transported all the way from Chhattisgarh in Orissa.

The residual fly ash from the burning coal would have been dumped into the lake bodies which would have made hem unfit for any sort of usage or it had to shifted to the cement industry which are situated around 800km from the plant site, which again a burden on the city roads.

           

The continuous agitation against the thermal power plant from 2007 onwards bore fruit and the project was cancelled. Today, Chamalapura might be a distant memory but the event heralded a new chapter in environmental activism & a green crusade against development for environmental conservation.

           

Participants walking to the hillock

In this backdrop the participants were taken out to the proposed site of thermal power plant so that they get a clear ground zero picture & can be an eye opener to the possible effects of environmental destruction. This will also inspire the new generation to take up environmental activism and to walk the green path towards environmental conservation.

Participants were taken to the top of the hillock of Chamalapura where they experienced the picturesque nature & its marvelous creations. It gave them a real sense of catastrophe that would have brought on if the Govt had gone ahead in sanctioning the power plant. They also saw the “Vijayagallu” installed on a hillock at Chamalapura. This landmark was installed to commemorate the victory of the Environmentalists of Mysore & the villagers against the sanctioning of the power plant.

Manu K addressing the teachers at Chamalapura

The significance was narrated to the participants by taking them to the very spot where the proposed Chamalapura Thermal Power Plant was supposed to be built. One of the forerunners who fought against the proposed plant, Mr. Manu K of MAN elaborated the struggle behind the victory & the multifold challenges the whole team of people had to undergo in reaching out to the people of all the surrounding villages & conveying to them the dangers of such establishments. Their united efforts finally paid the desired result in the annulling of the proposed site by the ministry of environment & forest Govt. of India. 

           

The participants had a great time enjoying & appreciating the plethora of diversity present in & around Chamalapura.

The Teachers Training program takes off

In the modern era of syllabus oriented schooling there is a wide gap in communicating the concepts between the teachers and the students. On the one hand the teachers express inability to adhere to the dictum of the curriculum the students struggle to absorb the content.

The present workshop tries to address these issues and tries to bridge the gap between the teacher and the student in the rote system.

Inaugurating the workshop Smt. Padmini T expressed her anguish towards the rote method of teaching which makes the child use representational thinking/ learning without having concrete experiences. Further she said that this situation might lead to the failure of student in achieving abstract thinking. Now-a-days children are made to use symbolic representation of numbers without understanding their meaning. For example children of kindergarten level write number 2 that symbolizes two objects but do not understand the actual meaning of it, she said. Further, she mentioned how in kindergarten charts the size of an elephant and the rat are depicted in a one inch square box without correlating their actual sizes in real life.

She quoted Piaget’s famous theory of concrete to abstract cognitive learning which is essential for the right way of learning even in high school level. She also mentioned the importance of Nature component in effective dissemination of learning content. She appreciated Hasiru Hejje’e initiative in taking the children out doors and connecting them back to Nature.

This session was followed by a guided tour of the Museum for the participants that aimed to enable them to impart students with real facts about evolution. There were activities like ‘Who am I?’, ‘Fish Bowl’ and web of Life.

In the post lunch session, there was a presentation of importance of activities in curriculum with emphasis on CCE. The day ended with a film show Surviving Progress followed by a discussion.