Sarath Vayali, 27 years old who is a founder of ‘AlterSchool’ which located at Kerala, India. He is a very close friend of mine and we worked together at iMOVE project under the VSO India Trust. In that journey, we shared our ideas through the leadership and learning process. After the project, Sarath started AlterSchool which was an amorphous grouping of youth who conducted some classes for children with craftwork using tender palm leaves. Bharathappuzha (“River of Bharath”), also known as the Nila, is a river in India in the state of Kerala. It is the second-longest river in Kerala and the word “Nila” indicates the culture more than just a river. About 30-40 years back, Kerala’s first river conservation activities began from the banks of river Nila.
After joining the last convention, Sarath realized that the participation from local community members and the youth was abysmally low.
However, he also revealed that the youth were aware of the degradation of the river, but did not have the guidance to do something about it. Sarath and his team suggested to the district co-ordinators to arrange a youth camp to make river conservation as the core theme and the school coordinator raised the demand for activity-based modules connected to the river. This is how the idea of bringing the river conservation education module came into being.
AlterSchool then started dealing with education where children and youth are encouraged to think out of the box, using their creative and imaginative skills. The target group falls in the age group of 9-18 years. They hope to achieve this by supporting children in their passions and interests and developing community learning spaces. For example, preparing community biodiversity registers, documenting and propagating folklore related to the river, nature clubs, organizing farming collectives, etc.
The aim is to create a group of school/college students who are concerned about the river. The river conservation education module includes
1) Activities to be conducted with three aspects of the river- socio-economic, cultural and environmental
2) Follow-up activities, and
3) Feedback procedures to be followed by teachers.
AlterSchool intends to sustain the activity by developing leadership among the children. They are ensuring a steady stream of youth volunteers who would help to conserve the ecology and culture that river Nila has given birth to and sustained. Ultimately, by connecting the younger generation with this river and making them aware of the rich cultural and ecological life that has river supports as it flows, AlterSchool hopes to create a new generation who will in the future take efforts to protect this river from being completely destroyed.
Hasan Owais
YSSE/Intern
