Tamil Nadu ties up with private co to train students on managing waste

CHENNAI: The state government has inked a deal with a private educational research organisation to teach students from 320 government schools about sustainable management of plastic and other waste.

The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will integrate this subject in two textbooks in the third term for Class VI and IX students.

The new legislation to ban one-time use and throwaway plastics in Tamil Nadu from January 1, 2019 will be supported by teaching children how they can reduce pollution and manage waste sustainably. Students will be trained under programmes — Garbology and know PLASTICS — developed by WasteLess, an Auroville-based organisation which has been researching and developing educational programmes for schools in TN since 2011.

The initiative is supported by the Ramco group and in the first phase, will target more than 320 schools – 10 in each district of the state.

Ribhu Vohra, co-founder of WasteLess, said the programmes focus on hands-on learning which the students can take at home, school and neighbourhood.

Upon completion of the first phase, the garbology programme will be scaled up to cover students from Class IV to VIII in 220 more schools. This programme includes nine interactive and educational classroom activities that are complementary with subjects such as science, English and mathematics, Vohra added.

School education minister K A Sengottaiyan said the new laws paired with innovative education ways will protect future generations from the burden of plastic pollution. Each school will be provided with a training kit and teachers will be trained by experts soon after the launch scheduled for October.