Wipro earthian awards felicitate excellence in sustainability education

On February 9, Bangalore headquartered Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, organised the eighth edition of the Wipro earthian awards. The annual awards recognise excellence in sustainability within the education process in schools and colleges in India.

Wipro earthian is one of India’s largest sustainability education programmes for schools and colleges. The 2018 edition of the Wipro earthian programme received 1300 entries, out of which winning entries from fourteen schools and ten colleges were selected by an independent jury.

The teams from schools demonstrated their understanding of biodiversity and water through a combination of activity and written essays. The teams from colleges submitted their entries on the themes of water, waste and transportation in the urban context.

The Wipro earthian awards have seen a threefold increase in the number of participants since inception in 2011. The programme has engaged with over 55,000 schools and colleges, 130,000 students and 13,000 teachers from across India.

The expanded reach of the programme was catalysed by support from Wipro’s education partners such as Centre for Environment Education (CEE), C.P.R Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC), Wild Ecologues and state governments, who provide on-ground support to Wipro earthian during the participation cycle of the programme.

The winning institutes were awarded a certificate along with a cash prize. They will also get an opportunity to engage with Wipro and its expert sustainability partners through continuous collaborative programmes that will enable a deeper understanding of issues pertaining to sustainability.

The awards were given away by Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro Limited as part of a day-long event at Wipro’s campus in Sarjapur, Bangalore.

The event featured a session by Anil Ananthaswamy, an award-winning journalist, author and former deputy news editor of the London-based New Scientist magazine. Thaalavattam, an Indian musical band that uses percussion instruments created from discarded tubes, industrial waste materials, paint cans, plastic bottles and bicycle parts performed at the event. A key highlight of the programme was national finals of the Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz, hosted by noted quizmaster, Giri Balasubramaniam from Greycaps India Pvt Ltd – popularly known as ‘Pickbrain’. The day concluded with a musical performance by Rabbi Shergill, an Indian musician and singer well known for his debut album ‘Rabbi’ and the chart-topping song ‘Bulla ki Jaana’.

On the occasion, Anurag Behar, chief sustainability officer, Wipro Limited said, “Wipro earthian is our flagship programme that seeks to encourage and nurture young minds across the country to think more sustainably. The programme helps develop a deeper understanding of everyday issues in sustainability such as water, biodiversity, transportation and waste. The eighth edition of the Wipro earthian awards involved an outreach to schools and colleges across 29 states and two Union Territories, including remote locations such as Ladakh, Dras, Kargil, Sunderbans and the Nicobar Islands for the first time. In the coming years, we expect Wipro earthian to set new benchmarks in terms of scale, quality and impact in the area of sustainability education in India.”

The list of winning schools at Wipro earthian awards 2018 included: