School kids go online for a greener world

GUWAHATI: In a state where the green cover is fast depleting, an international web project is involving school kids in Assam through the internet to conserve the environment.
The web project, Environment On Line (www.enoschool.org), aims at creating an example of how information technology can be used constructively to impart education despite differences of location, culture, language and prosperity.
"It''s a global virtual school. The basic aim is to provide a global learning environment for schools interested in environment. We want to study to learn co-operationally in web community, to deepen environmental themes and student data in education, to add global awareness and internationality and to support sustainable development", pointed out Rajiv K Shrivastava, head of information and communication technology department in the Assam Valley School at Balipara in northern Assam''s Sonitpur district .
Led by Srivastava, students of AVS - one of the ten ENO schools in Asia - recently returned after attending a meeting of ENO teachers and students in Joensuu of Finland.
"It was fun. We met and discussed our experiences with students from all over the world", pointed out tenth standard student Ayushi Kejriwal, who formed a part of the team. "We shared how we travelled to the nearby national park, studied and videoed the environment from very close quarters and often advised the locals - mostly the tea community - at the nearby Harchura tea estate on protecting the environment."
Ayushi, who aspires to be a green activist, elaborated how school students from other countries were amazed to hear about herds of wild elephants descending on the AVS campus. "They were surprised but at the same time happy that we were living in the midst of nature, something which they have been deprived of", she explained.
Another student participant, Siddhartha Bania, commented: "As a global school for environmental awareness, ENO allows students and teachers to study different environmental themes, gather data on local environment and share and analyze it together. It uses email, text and audio-visual e-chats, online lessons and discussion forums for the exchange of data."
Interestingly, as an innovative and pioneering IT project in education, ENO has already been selected as one of the finalists for the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Awards to be awarded in Stockholm in October this year.
"The successful use of technology to generate awareness about something that is important to the entire human race should be commended. In an age when environment is merely a fashionable issue to discuss while the ground realities are worsening each moment, activities of this kind promise hope", Shrivastava felt. (EOM).