Press release from Business Wire India
Source: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 03:26 PM IST (09:56 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Environment; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Education & training, Energy companies, Information technology; Technology
Release no: 19825
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TERI and DELL Launch "The Climate EduXchange Initiative" in India
The First of Its Kind Environment Initiative will have Dell - TERI Knowledge Centres in Schools Across Six Indian Cities - Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mohali & Pune
Mohali, Punjab, India, Wednesday, April 29, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Dell in partnership with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) today announced the launch of "The Climate EduXchange Initiative" -- an IT-enabled Climate initiative to improve environment education in schools across India. The primary objective of this partnership is to create a motivated force of students, who through technological advancements are aware of and concerned about the environment and its associated problems.
The campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding about climate change issues amongst students and teachers of all disciplines. It will focus on findings of IPCC to disseminate knowledge to students and teachers and promote engagement on these issues with students in other parts of the country. It also aspires to familiarise all to the importance of the internet and the computer as powerful tools for knowledge and motivate them to take action and bring about desired change in the environment.
Talking about the youth's role, Dr. RK Pachauri, Director-General TERI, said, "Youth of today carry out extensive search for knowledge through the internet. The spread of Information Technology in India has dramatically altered the scenario for education on a vast range of subjects. Given the importance of climate change for the entire human race and the stake that citizens of the 21st century have in dealing with this major challenge, TERI and Dell have jointly launched The Climate EduXchange Initiative. This would be a unique programme for creating awareness and understanding on climate change by which schoolchildren and students can take the future into their own hands and find solutions to the rapidly increasing threat of climate instability."
Elaborating on DELL's vision, Mr. Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, VP and MD Dell International Services, said "Considering the large youth population in India, it is imperative to educate them about issues that govern the future of this planet. This initiative is aimed at empowering the youth with tools and platforms for knowledge sharing that will help them build a better future. The power of youth is certain to bring about a change - and that change needs to start now."
The Climate EduXchange program is in harmony with Dell's YouthConnect initiative, which has an underlying vision of developing a generation of young people who can leverage technology resources to unleash their highest potential. The initiative is designed to ensure that youth all over the world have access to relevant education and information technology.
As a part of the Youth Connect campaign Dell plans to increase overall corporate giving to a level of one percent of company pre-tax profits by the beginning of the company's fiscal year 2011, which begins in February 2010.
The programme will reach out to six cities-Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mohali and Pune. It will include children from classes 5 to 11 from 50 schools in each city. They will be divided in five clusters and one school from each cluster will be identified as the nodal school (Knowledge Centres). The Climate EduXchange Initiative will harness the power of ICT (Information Communication Technology) providing a platform for students from identified parts of the country to share information and ideas across disciplines, about how climate change is affecting them and how they can do their bit in bringing about change.
Lauding the initiative, Mr. Ibrahim H Rehman, Director Social Transformations, said "The youth are not only the decision makers & leaders of tomorrow but, more importantly the custodians of environment and the natural resources in this planet. We hope that the EduXchange initiative will encourage the students and youth to take a pro-active role in reversing climate change."
Mr Sandeep Gulati, Site Director, Dell Mohali said, "Climate change is a sensitive issue today that has gripped the attention of many. Building awareness and educating students about the same needs to be supplemented with a robust platform that facilitates dialogue and discussion. The 'Climate EduXchange Initiative' with TERI is an effort to engage with students through a powerful medium like the Internet and promote an environment that is conducive to learning and knowledge sharing."
The main highlights of the Project are as follows:
-- The Internet will be one of the main tools. Project schools from different cities in India will be linked:
- An interactive web repository will be setup that will connect all schools and provide a platform of knowledge and sharing of experiences
- Individual schools will develop webpage, which will connect to the main home page. All materials developed, will be promoted through the webpage, newsletters
- The content displayed will be generated by students and teachers
-- Dell - TERI Knowledge Centres will be set up in the nodal schools which will be equipped with computers and other hardware and software. These Knowledge Centres will be accessible to all the cluster schools. Nodal schools will be encouraged to reach out to cluster schools acting as an information channel ensuring that voices of all are integrated into the programme
-- Resource material such as multimedia aids, posters, worksheets, leaflets, brochures, etc will be developed and uploaded
-- Regular online and on the spot competitions will be organized - debate, quiz, painting, story writing etc
-- Initiation, Sensitization and Capacity Building workshops, interactive sessions and discussion forums, and field trips will be conducted for teachers and students on a regular basis - stress will be put on approaches that facilitate the sharing of information, knowledge and ideas keeping their focus and connection to the key issues
Young people offer a powerful and unique perspective on climate change. Their engagement with the issue is, however, long overdue. The Climate EduXchange programme intends to reach out to students, teachers, and the community in general to spread awareness about this key issue.
About TERI - EEA (Environment Education Awareness)
Environment Education and Awareness area at TERI has dedicated itself to the task of creating an informed group of young citizens who will become the leaders of tomorrow and for whom environmental issues will become a part of their daily lives. It has conducted several projects on issues related to water, air, climate change, energy, etc. It develops and disseminates resource material (both print and electronic) for effective communication, besides networking with like-minded institutes, for wider outreach at the national and global platform.
The area targets mainly students and teachers and through them the community. To bring about a spirit of participatory competition for addressing environmental concerns innovative projects and activities are undertaken such as conferences, interactive sessions and discussions. An annual international environmental examination - GREEN Olympiad for middle and senior school students is conducted in association with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India that culminates in the TERRAQUIZ, the first environmental quiz programme for school students on Indian television. School Health and Hygiene programme is being carried out in the government schools of Haryana (Gurgaon, Sonepat and Panipat) and Delhi under the Yamuna Action Plan - II. Workshops, seminars, training programmes and educational field trips on environmental issues are organised for teachers and students at regular intervals.
To know further details about the programme, contact eea@teri.res.in
About DELL
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations.
CONTACT DETAILS
Rajiv Chhibber, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), +91 11 24682100, Extn - 2324, +91 9810426698, rajivc@teri.res.in
Dalvinder Kaur, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), +91 11 24682100, Extn - 2269, +91 9891377700, djkaur@teri.res.in
Mahesh Jayaram, Dell, +91 9845120820, mahesh_jayaram@dell.com
Devika Bajaj, 20:20 Media for Dell, +91 9810928468, devika@2020india.com
KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENVIRONMENT, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, EDUCATION, ENERGY, IT, TECHNOLOGY
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