Sep 18, 2006 :: Eco clubs in schools

The National Green Corps intiative by the central Ministry of Environment and Forests [MoEF] has resulted in the creation of 70,000 eco clubs in schools across India since the programme began in 2002. The idea is to make children in secondary schools more sensitive to environmental issues and induce responsibe behaviour among them.

Given the track record of MoEF in the last few years as a guardian of the environment, this may be no more than a lunge at tokenism. But often those that pay lip service are hoist by their own petard. Even marginal exposure to ecology can add members to help build the critical mass required to combat official ignorance and vandalism.