PSSCIVE UNESCO UNEVOC TVET Conference 2020: Notes from a talk by Dr. Rajesh P. Khambayat

“Technical and vocational education is the largest consumer of the natural resources and one of the largest polluters. So it is very important to advocate and understand the Greening TVET for sustainability”- Dr. Rajesh P. Khambayat, Joint Director, PSSCIVE, Bhopal, India (UNEVOC Network Member). Making policies and governing them is crucial for sustainable development.

To contribute towards saving our environment from any further damage, PSSCIVE has come up with a Green Policy. With the policy, PSSCIVE envision that TVET Institutions would vigorously explore and develop practical knowledge and green skills and clean technology applicable to their respective service area.

To start the change and contribute at an institutional level, PSSCIVE had gone through four important phases. Which are:

Getting Acquainted

As the first phase, we created awareness among our staff and students about the green initiative and the importance of Green TVET by conducting awareness programs.

Getting Involved

To start getting involved we focused on policy dissemination, implementation of projects and improvements analysis. And this resulted in the policy development.

Infusing Green

This phase was the most crucial phase where we infused the green policy and followed all the key dimensions that were needed. In this phase we focused on monitoring and evaluation, policy refinements and publication. We also integrated Green TVET in programs and curricula.

Key dimensions of Green PSSCIVE Movement

Green campus

• To convert our campus into a green campus, we avoid plastic in the campus and try to keep it plastic free.
• We focus on energy conservation and water harvesting
• We also focus on waste management and pollution control
• We plant trees and we have a friendship garden as well

Green Technology

• Solar energy harvesting and utilization of solar energy to produce electricity
• We are planning to get electricity for the entire campus which is around 100KW through solar energy.

Green Community and Green Culture

• To create Green Community, our employees engage with local communities near our institution
• Our employees create awareness about the use of plastic and pollution control
• We build a Green Culture where we all come together and contribute towards keeping our campus clean

Transforming Lives

We focus on transforming lives by joining communities and creating awareness through community education and capacity building on Green TVET.

Introducing Green Skills in Vocational Education and Skills in School Curriculum

Our curriculum consists of 63 percent Vocational Education and 37 percent Employability Skills. We introduced Green Skills as one of the Employability Skills which is mandatory for all the students. Under the initiative, around 10 lakh students will be aware about the green culture and importance of if.

Greening initiative by creating capacity building

Sustainable achievement can’t be achieved through power point. It can’t be done through classroom teaching and we need a fresh approach to our teaching and learning. The three important steps to attain sustainable achievement are,

• Fresh approach in teaching and learning: Reduce the lectures, classwork, memorization, textbook approach, abstract theory.
• Increase discussion and debate, critical thinking and field work.
• Expand project work, research and investigation.

Dr. Rajesh P. Khambayat explained all the needed aspects for Green TVET and why it is important to advocate this in Technical and Vocational Education. As the immediate next step, he asked everyone to come together and build a Green Index for TVET Institution. He also urged everyone to focus on energy conservation as part of Greening TVET. He concluded his presentation with a wonderful quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “the world has enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed.”