Karo Sambhav, a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), engaged in developing and implementing responsible electronic waste (e-waste) management solutions across India, organised a felicitation ceremony at the Fr Agnel Multipurpose High School in Verna. The event was organised in conjunction with the successful culmination of the four-month-long school programme aimed at building awareness and inspiring students towards recycling of e-waste.
The programme enabled by principal partners Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo aims to create awareness among students on critical environmental issues like Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), preventive environmental strategies, and inspiring them to take actions in their daily lives. Other partners of the programme include M-Tech, Savex, and Supertron. Karo Sambhav has partnered with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a part of World Bank Group, to build sustainable e-waste solutions for India with a focus on awareness generation, capacity building and knowledge exchange.
Talking about the programme, founder, Karo Sambhav, Pranshu Singhal said: “Students are the foundation of tomorrow, and our mandate is to not only sensitise them on the need for responsible e-waste management, but also to enable development of 21st century skills. We have designed the program by employing contemporary pedagogical practices to teach skills like collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, communication, ICT competencies and real-world problem solving.”
Ronojoy Guha Sircar, consultant, IFC, encouraged the students on their achievements and said: “Students are our e-waste program’s most important ambassadors for positive change because of their genuine influence and the number of people they reach through their families and friends.”
Designed for students from class 5 to 10, the programme was carried out in 25 schools across Goa. During the felicitation ceremony students, teachers and schools were awarded under three categories. Our Lady of Candelaria High School was awarded for maximum e-waste collection of 25 kilograms out of 40 kilograms. It also won the Best Execution of Toolkit. Our Lady of Candelaria High School and Municipal High School jointly won under the category of the Best Community Outreach Programme.
In order to increase the efficacy of the program, the curriculum of the program was designed as a toolkit of 6 exercises to enable development of participating teachers’ competence and to empower them to provide enriching practical experience to the students. Also, the awards were given based on the continuous field visits, and communication established with the participating schools by Juana Technologies Pvt Ltd, the execution partner of Karo Sambhav in Goa.