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| The Green School Manual |
Vaibhav, a friend who works for CSE sent me a copy of the 'Green School Manual', a publication that Rustam had advised me to have a look at. This is a book that moves beyond a normal text book format and encourages and concentrates solely on 'doing'. It is designed as a tool to help schools manage their resources and see how 'green' they are. It has five chapters on water, land, waste, air and energy, in the end catering to making a school as green as possible by involving the students, administration as well as staff. It is a good, close to ideal way of bringing about change by learning and doing.
The chapter on water addresses the school's consumption, sanitation facilities, conservation practices (like rain water harvesting tanks, fixing leaking pipes etc.), and water recycling. It is nice because it gives data and engages the students in raw data collection through activites in groups. 'You' are calculating how green
'your' school is. It also makes data and figures more transparent and allows students to see how they can be more sustainable.
Sustainable and safe school sanitation : A booklet on how to provide hygienic and a ffordable sanitation in areas without a functioning wastewater system : examples from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Utrecht, The Netherlands, WECF, Women in Europe for a Common. Even though it is not based in India, some of the problems are similar and the solutions we need to look might be applicable at a global level as well.
http://washresources.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/sustainable-and-safe-school-sanitation-brochure/
A blog on projects and people working around health and WATSAN by Mr.Vishwanath
http://hpwhygiene.blogspot.com/
A TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson
"And doing that, I think is the answer to the future because it's not about scaling a new solution; it's about creating a movement in education in which people develop their own solutions, but with external support based on a personalized curriculum."
"Reform is no use anymore, because that's simply improving a broken model. What we need -- and the word's been used many times during the course of the past few days -- is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.
" These very inspiring and powerful quotes are from the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson where he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish. I found this on Anushka's blog. Both of us are working with children and looking at how their different needs can be addressed through working with them in new ways. This talk was really inspiring and makes me feel like I am in the right place doing the right thing!
" These very inspiring and powerful quotes are from the TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson where he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish. I found this on Anushka's blog. Both of us are working with children and looking at how their different needs can be addressed through working with them in new ways. This talk was really inspiring and makes me feel like I am in the right place doing the right thing!
Here is why hand washing is so important.
It is said that it must be a nation wide priority to promote it
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=9519&LangID=E
Videos on health and water for children
This is a video for children on hand washing by Crawford the cat. There are many such videos which can be shown to kids. In this particular one though, (could be misleading-at times!) the water is left on while he soaps and talks and all that jazz! So much of it goes for a waste! In the end they make sure he shuts the tap properly though, so that's a good sign atleast.
It would be great if small things make differences like this, even if it is just one family, it is a start!
