By Dr. Preeti Aggarwal
Green Saviours of India (GSI) is Viom Networks’ endeavor to promote active learning pedagogy at schools for sensitizing young generation towards environmental education, local and global sustainability issues.
Capacity Building of School Teachers
Under this project, Viom has worked on capacity building of 1500 school teachers through interactive training session on environmental sustainability across India. Along with its NGO partner – Eco Roots Foundation, Viom has organized 25 GSI workshops within a span of 4 months involving 1500 school teachers to reemphasize on integrating ‘Education for Sustainable Development’.
Conceptualization and Approach
Quoting Syed Safawi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Viom Networks, “Viom’s Green Saviors of India (GSI) project is unique owing to the fact that it is was conceptualized by keeping the very source of awareness building in mind – our school teachers. They are the conduit of imparting education to our children and therefore, if they can make their teaching methodology more intuitive, children will easily related to them.”
Active Learning Methodology: VAPi
We have adopted an active learning methodology, VAPi, which is developed to promote critical thinking and effective learning among school students on local environmental issues. VAPi method adopts ‘visual, activity-, and project-inspire-’ based learning to present the interaction of human with environment in a realistic and understandable manner.
Salient Features of GSI Project
There are several salient features of the GSI project: i) target all subject teacher ii) no additional curriculum is provided as a part of the program, iii) simple and non-expensive methods are discussed, and iv) delivered across multi-cultural and lingual regions.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Perspective
Rakesh Khatri, Director- Eco Roots Foundation, added that, “GSI project is one of its kind Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project in India, where Viom Networks as a corporate partner is actively involved in design and delivery of the training sessions”.
Role of Viom Volunteers
Viom volunteers play a significant role in organizing training session, interacting with participants and sharing stories of their experience on environmental issues in day-to-day lives.
Eco Roots Foundation’s Contribution
Eco Roots Foundation has a proven track record of establishing connect with more than 250 schools and coordinating the delivery of the workshops. Post-completion, they continue to maintain a knowledge-exchange network of participant teachers and share valuable insights on day-to-day happenings on sustainability in India.
Viom’s Commitment to Social Responsibility
At Viom, social responsibility comprises interacting with stakeholders to reconcile environmental and societal needs. As an active member of prominent industry bodies, Viom spearheads various community development initiatives such as energy conservation and green energy solutions. We believe that our humble effort and modest beginnings has the potential to create environmental awareness among thousands of school going children. We look forward to continuing with our GSI initiative, and encourage the rest of corporate India to launch similar programmes.
About the author:
Dr. Preeti Aggarwal is Corporate Social Responsibility lead at Viom Networks Limited. She is managing several community projects and employee volunteering initiatives aimed at promoting environment conservation and protection in Indian region. She continue to pursue advocacy in the space of responsible business practices, climate impact and unsustainable growth issues.
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