Delhi, Gurgaon students join global protest against climate change

Normally, when students bunk school, parents and teachers are up in arms against it. So it was quite unusual then when hundreds of students from dozens of schools across Delhi and Gurgaon decided to bunk their classes, they were not only supported, but in some cases even chaperoned by their teachers and guardians. The students were part of a strike against climate change, a global movement spread across 40 countries.


The movement was started in last August by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who has been striking from school every Friday for the last seven months to stand outside the Swedish Parliament, demanding that they adhere to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Since then, Greta’s movement has spread across the world, and she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. On March 15, students in Indian cities took part in the strike for the first time.

The students in Gurgaon chose the waste art installation in Wazirabad Bundh as their venue of protest. Hundreds of students converged at the site, many still in their school uniforms, carrying banners and placards

In Delhi, students from different organizations and over 25 schools came together in Central Park, Connaught Place, to join the Global Climate Strike, along with environmentalists, researchers and educators. Amaya Naarang, a Class VI student at the protest, asked, “Why should we go to school and study when our future is being eaten up by climate change? The Earth is already warmer by 1 degree Celsius and is likely to be warmer by 2 degree Celsius if we don’t act. Scientists say there are only 12 years left to ensure that Earth doesn’t get warmer, which will result in a terrible environment to survive in.”

Holding handmade placards, the students urged the government to act against climate change. “Despite Delhi being the most polluted capital in the world, there are trees being chopped in the name of development. Not a single political party has environment on their agenda. We demand that government take immediate steps to curb pollution in the city and save our future,” said Gurpreet Kohli, a 15-year-old student from Punjabi Bagh.


Amy, who works in the Canadian embassy, said, “We have just shifted here and can already feel the high pollution levels in the city. I am worried it may have an adverse effect on my children’s health in the long-term.” Her 11-year-old son Simon said that the family have made changes in their lifestyle for a sustainable living. “Whenever we go shopping we take our own bags, we use our own glass water bottles and reusable food containers. We don’t use single-use plastic at all,” he said.

Students across a warming globe pleaded for their lives, future and planet on Friday, demanding tough action on climate change. From the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle, angry students in more than 100 countries walked out of classes to protest. The coordinated “school strikes” were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who began holding solitary monstrations outside the Swedish parliament last year.

Greta Thunberg leads a protest in Paris

Protest in UK

Protest against climate change in Australia