Reduce Waste

In standard 9 this past week, we have been learning about reducing waste and keeping our environment clean. For those of you that have been to India, you know that trash bins are few and far between and when you do see them, they are usually empty with piles of tobacco chew wrappers, paper and other miscellaneous trash littered all over the ground around it. While waste reduction and an environmental conscience don't seem to be taking all too quickly in rural Gujarat and many other parts of India, at least they are making an effort to teach about it in the classrooms, right? I am a firm believer in both our responsibility to the environment and in my responsibility as a teacher to educate students; encouraging them to think outside the box and to use the all their faculties to make good decisions.

As a homework assignment this week, I had the kids make posters highlighting which ways they could keep their environments clean as well as which things they should not do. Their textbook listed things like Don't throw trash on the ground. Do use the dustbin. Do reuse plastic bags and bottles to reduce waste. Don't dump trash into the river.

Because any homework we assign doesn't count towards their final marks in any way, a very large majority don't feel any need to complete homework for my classes. The last assignment I gave them was completed by about 7 students out of 70; all of them girls but one. This is disheartening; annoying at best. We often end up doing the homework during class time which may take away from the text work but at least is giving me time to work one on one with the students. While I am trying to instill class responsibility to your teacher (me), I am also asserting (attempting to) more authority in class by being more strict with my punishments.

Friday came. Reduce Waste poster due. One girl made a poster.

Disciplinary action needed. Kitty teacher the enforcer is prepared for such an outcome.

My punishment for those that did not hand in the assignment (I should note that this assignment was not totally one that I added to the unit's work. They were going to have to write all of these Do's and Don'ts later in the Unit - answers found directly in the reading!) was to have them clean up the school yard of all the candy wrappers and trash they guiltlessly litter in trails behind them. We started by cleaning up the classroom which has their recess remnants scattered around it. The dustbin sits nearly empty by the door.

Let me remind you of the first Do on the list....Do use the dustbin.

I am monitoring the progress of the class along with my trusty co-teacher enforcer, Vijaybhai when I notice several boys hurriedly picking up the trash. They seem diligent and intent on finishing the task; which is to not only pick up the trash but to also put it in the dustbin. When I gave the instructions for the punishment, I may have failed to mention after "Pick up the trash from the classroom floor" to tell them that once they had, to put it in the dustbin. My bad, apparently. I watched, awed, as Hardik threw his handful of wrappers OUT THE WINDOW!!

So, maybe the Reduce Waste lesson is going to have to be ongoing. BUT!, I am dedicated to seeing at least my students using the dustbin and consciously doing it. It's my new mission. Think I'll be successful? I'll let you know in a few months...