ITANAGAR, 26 Feb: Wipro Limited, a leading technology services and consulting company, held the 14th edition of Wipro earthian Awards for the year 2024 at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru on 22 February. The awards were a conclusion of an annual program designed to foster integrated sustainability education and recognize Indian schools and colleges that actively promote sustainable action and thinking.
Winners from the Northeastern region included Global Valley School, Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district and Assam’s North Guwahati Girls High School.
The team from the Global Valley School examined how development in their valley impacts solid waste management. They found that modern waste from commercialization is not absorbed by natural environments and highlighted the absence of local recycling industries leading to waste burning and environmental degradation.
North Guwahati Girls High School team presented projects on biodiversity and waste. They found that while the northeast is conducive to biodiversity, urbanization and infrastructure growth are harming it.
This imbalance could affect future generations. For waste, they noted the lack of awareness in disposal habits and initiated a paper recycling project to improve their environment.
Anurag Behar, Chief Executive Officer, Azim Premji Foundation, and Narayan P.S., Global Head of Sustainability and Social Initiatives, Wipro Limited, and Managing Trustee, Wipro Foundation, felicitated the winning teams with certificates and cash prizes.
Narayan PS, Global Head of Sustainability and Social Initiatives, Wipro Limited, and Managing Trustee, Wipro Foundation, said, “The annual Wipro earthian awards is the culmination of the 14th edition of Wipro’s long-running program that seeks to ignite interest and foster learning in young minds on humanity’s unique relationship with nature. Bringing students and teachers together from schools spread across the country, the Wipro earthian program is designed to generate action-based learning that celebrates the underlying connectedness of the individual with the larger fabric of community and nature. We continue to be inspired by the spirit of resilience and optimism we see in our young citizens as they get ready to face the multiple challenges of sustainable development the world faces.”
The Wipro earthian program is one of India’s largest sustainability education programs for schools and colleges. The 2024 edition of this program received over 1,500 project submissions, of which 23 winning and 43 shortlisted entries were selected by an independent jury. The teams from the winning schools demonstrated a deep understanding of biodiversity, waste and water, through a combination of activity-based learning programs and written essays.
Since 2011, Wipro earthian has engaged with over 50,000 schools, 4,000 colleges, 2,00,000 students, and 40,000 teachers. This year, participation remained high with more than 1,500 submissions from schools and over 700 from colleges. Support from Wipro’s education partners, including CEE, CPREEC, Wild Ecologues, IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore, state governments, and educators in the SEN, has expanded the program’s reach.
