BANGALORE, India : Microland Foundation, a dedicated social development arm of Microland Limited, in partnership with local NGOs in Coonoor is fostering and promoting Environmental stewardship, believing it to be an integral long-term medium to build a healthy, sustainable community. From integrated waste management to introducing students to concepts and ideas on sustainable food production, water and energy conservation, these programmes have been not only been manifold & multilayered but also contextual to their local communities.
In partnership with Keystone Foundation & Department of Education, 10 Climate schools were inaugurated in a multi-stakeholder meet held on 12th December, 2022.
Mr. Sugumar, Deputy Inspector, Department of Education, Tamil Nadu, expressed his joy on the occasion, “Nilgiris district has led the way by launching ‘Climate Smart School’ which is an innovative partnership between Department of Education, Microland Foundation, and Keystone Foundation. Climate Change is real and building awareness on initiatives to mitigate the impact on the planet is a necessary skill for the future. In fact, in partnership with Microland Foundation, the Department of Education is working on many programmes with a view of enhancing future skills, spanning across English fluency to digital literacy. We are excited and happy to see the progress in all these programmes.”
Kalpana Kar, Trustee Microland Foundation, elaborating on the model of Climate Smart Schools, stated, “As part of the initiative, an integrated Climate Curriculum has been developed, and is being implemented with an inter-disciplinary Live Lab Approach. Specially trained local nature educators are working closely with selected schools to teach through demonstrable models of weather stations installed in the schools. These automated weather stations (installed by Mobitech), and Lab Kitchen Gardens, energy efficient devices, and water conservation devices – everything together constitutes the curriculum. These installations serve to conduct activities as part of this innovative climate curriculum to engage children in real Climate-change conversations and encourage them to monitor their school weather patterns and dialogue with their parents and elders.”
Dr. Anita Varghese, Director, Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change, expressed Keystone Foundation’s commitment to build climate resilience and socio-ecological development in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR), “Keystone Foundation has been working in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve for 29 years now. In the recent past, climate related disasters have impacted the region greatly and we would like to increase the children’s awareness on the state of the environment. For the same, Climate Smart School Project is initiated in the Nilgiris in close partnership with Microland Foundation. The project is in progress with over half a year of engagement with the Schools administration. At this juncture, we have embarked on understanding and evaluating the lessons, challenges, and successes, and plan to share the results with the wider ecosystem in NBR.”
- Dhevendhiran, Human Resource Manager, Mobitech Wireless Solution Pvt. Ltd., stated “At Mobitech, our work revolves around wireless solutions for farmers with sustainable innovative infrastructure & for the current project we have installed weather stations at 10 schools which are monitored through a Mobile app. We are excited to be a part of this project to embed technology to tell stories and use data as evidence for change and demonstrate the need for proactive actions.”
Microland Foundation has established its presence in the Nilgiris District with several initiatives and invites partnership from academia, corporate funders, government agencies, and individuals to develop a beneficial long-term collaboration. The Foundation has also been at the forefront of improving the state of education in the Nilgiris and its surrounding areas by providing guidance and support for students in need.
