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Environmental apathy is the root cause of the climate crisis. Still, most of India’s largest demographic - the 260 million K-12 students complete school without connecting with nature and knowing the intricacies of climate change. TREE realised the need to reimagine nature and conservation education through creative and practical ways. So, we launched a youth-led initiative in 2018 called the Youth Conservation Action Network (YouCAN).
YouCAN's vision is an Earth Educator in every school and learning space in India: young people with an enterprising spirit to challenge the status quo and reimagine nature and conservation education in schools. We foresee 10,000 educators in every State by India's 100th year of independence. We are committed to being on this path, taking one step at a time, by implementing the Earth Educators Fellowship, providing access to locally relevant learning resources that are within reach of affluent communities and not all and providing mentorship to young people's education ideas. Our Approach:
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The Earth Educators Fellowship brings together 20 young environmentalists, emerging grassroots conservationists, school teachers, and informal educators who have an enterprising spirit to challenge the status quo of nature and conservation education in schools and in their communities. They are invited to embark on a 12-month leadership incubator program to explore the natural world, curate experiential learning projects for students, develop skills, and mobilize the community to reimagine nature and conservation education in schools through creative and practical ways.
To this end, the Earth Education Fellows: - Read excerpts from books and participate in sessions in the form of Socratic Dialogue. (E.g., Silent Spring, Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, How Climate Change is Changing Our Brains, Why is the Sky Blue?). - Participate in a pre-arrival activity using the community of inquiry framework (for the school they choose to work with) and know the Planet in your neighbourhood (for the natural environment in their village, town, or city). - Attend residencies facilitated by expert practitioners in the fields of adaptive leadership, educational approaches, systems thinking, natural history and conservation, storytelling and educator well-being. - Conceptualise, develop and implement education projects for adolescents (ages 10 to 19) in schools that combine natural history and conservation knowledge with experiential learning approaches. - Seek mentorship from the YouCAN's community of practitioners. - Develop your individual portfolio on Earth Education. - Put out educational resources that were created during the fellowship for the larger education community to use. - Contribute to the changing narrative on education through writings and videos. - Involve in the Earth Educators Collective after the fellowship to continue your personal and professional development pursuits. There are 33 alumni in 19 States across India who have facilitated 803 eco-club sessions for 6,458 students during their fellowship period. They receive support as an alumnus in various ways. |
To know more about YouCAN, please visit www.youcan.in