5 States, 5 Ecologies: How India Teaches Environmental Literacy

The previous part of the series on India’s journey in Environmental Education looked at the various judicial mandates, government directives, and schemes that built and bolstered the framework for environmental education in India.

A feature of broad directives and mandates, governing multiple states that are large as they are diverse, is that interpretations and executions may often vary. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 pre-empted this. In fact, it insisted that State Governments try to localise the context of what the children were to study in relation to the environment. And so the States did. 

Below is a snapshot of how 5 different Indian states adopted environmental education into their curricula in their own unique ways in the post NCF era that fit their ecology and environment the best.

Kerala

Kerala adopted the philosophy of the MC Mehta directive more enthusiastically than most states – it shifted the curriculum towards constructivist, activity-based learning. Students were encouraged to explore and investigate their own surroundings and better understand the ecological treasure trove that Kerala was nested in. Later assessments of KCF 2007 describe it as one of India's most progressive curriculum reforms, emphasising social constructivism, critical pedagogy and learning rooted in local contexts. Kerala also readily adopted the National Green Corps in 2001 and moved beyond just annual tree-planting drives for school-children. Schools organised eco-clubs where students documented local biodiversity, undertook nature camps and carried out awareness campaigns.When the NGC programme was revamped nationally into the Environment Education Programme (EEP) in 2022–23, Kerala emerged as one of the strongest implementing states. According to the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), approximately 4,500 schools participate through eco-clubs where students engage in workshops, biodiversity checklists, birdwatching, trekking, exhibitions, campaigns and field visits to protected areas.

One of Kerala’s most original experiments in the domain, however, is perhaps the Bhoomitrasena Club. Introduced during 2011-12 by the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change, these clubs were conceived as a continuation of environmental education beyond the school eco-club model, extending it to higher secondary schools and colleges. 

Sree Sankara College,Kalady, where Bhoomitrasena club has been active since 2014 engages in activities such as maintaining waste-management systems, constructing rainwater harvesting structures, conducting biodiversity surveys, monitoring local water quality and documenting indigenous environmental knowledge. 

Maharashtra

Maharashtra was facing increasingly visible manifestations of climate change – urban flooding in Mumbai, recurring droughts in Marathwada and Vidarbha, worsening air quality in cities, shrinking biodiversity, and mounting solid waste challenges.

Responding to the urgency of the climate crisis, Maharashtra introduced the Majhi Vasundhara (My Earth) Curriculum in 2020 – a programme that links what children learn in classrooms with the state's climate mitigation and adaptation agenda.

Philosophically, the scheme takes inspiration from the ancient Indian concept of the Panchamahabhuta: the five elements – Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Space, encouraging stakeholders to think about these elements and their interconnectedness instead of looking at them in isolation. 

Maharashtra, initially having responded to the 2005 curriculum, by late 2010s, the State felt like conventional environmental education was no longer sufficient. While Majhi Vasundhara is not a scheme exclusively related to school education, it became an important pillar in the implementation of the campaigns under it. 

In 2020, the Environment Department partnered with UNICEF Maharashtra, and other prominent organisations to develop the Majhi Vasundhara Curriculum for school students. The initial curriculum was designed for Classes 1–8 and later handed over to the School Education Department for implementation. Instead of completely replacing EVS as a subject, the new curriculum supplemented the existing material with activity-based learning tools that teachers could weave into their lesson plans. The pedagogy placed emphasis on the development of the child’s cognitive skills rather than rote memorisation.  

Students learned to identify science and sustainability in their daily lives – through these activities, they were encouraged to audit the waste in their own households, separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials, measure daily water consumption, observe local biodiversity, and undertake neighbourhood environmental surveys and more. 

Karnataka

Karnataka, perhaps, has some of the most ecologically diverse landscapes in the country – from the rainforests of the Western Ghats, to the dry scrub forests of northern Karnataka, the coffee plantations of Malnad, and the rapidly urbanising cityscapes of Bengaluru. 

Following the NCF, the state introduced its own State Curriculum Framework in 2007 which reiterated the importance of environmental education through activities and interaction with immediate surroundings. While Karnataka also sees the functioning of Eco Clubs in schools, what sets the state apart in its quest to educate its children on the environment is the close collaboration between schools and government agencies. The Karnataka Forest Department, the Karnataka Biodiversity Board and organisations such as the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) regularly partner with schools to organise field visits to forests, national parks and biodiversity hotspots. 

In 2025, the state also significantly increased funding for eco-clubs in government schools – from ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 per school – allowing schools to expand activities such as trekking, biodiversity surveys, kitchen gardens and visits to protected areas.

Another distinctive contribution from the state involves People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) following the Biological Diversity Act. Biodiversity Management Committees were established across local bodies to document local flora, fauna and traditional ecological knowledge. While these documents are primarily community registers, in ecologically rich and sensitive districts, many schools have worked alongside locals to identify tree species, birds, butterflies and medicinal plants found in their villages. In such a scenario, children not only learn from their surroundings, but also actively help conserve them. 

Uttarakhand

When Uttarakhand became India’s 27th state in November 2000, it inherited some of the country’s richest ecological resources and some of its biggest ecological vulnerabilities. Nearly 65 percent of the state's geographical area is under forest cover, and it contains the headwaters of major Himalayan rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna; it is also no stranger to natural disasters like forest fires, cloudbursts, floods, and landslides. These realities have shaped not only environmental policy but also the way children are taught about the environment.Following the 2005 foundations, the curriculum developed by Uttarakhand’s SCERT insisted on textbooks discussing local forests, alpine meadows, medicinal plants and traditional water systems instead of generic examples from around the country. The books reflected what the children knew as their land. A part of Uttarakhand's approach to environmental education is its integration of disaster management. While not explicitly detailed in the curriculum, the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) has worked with schools to integrate disaster awareness into educational activities.Additionally, Uttarakhand also has one of the country's most active networks of school Eco Clubs under the National Green Corps programme. These clubs encourage students to participate in practical conservation activities such as tree plantation, waste management campaigns, biodiversity surveys and awareness drives. A particularly important aspect of this is the use of ‘citizen science’ which views students as more than just learners. Schools increasingly involve them in observing ecological changes – recording flowering seasons, documenting bird species, monitoring rainfall patterns or identifying invasive plants – helping students appreciate the effects of environmental change while also contributing to broader ecological awareness.

Sikkim

Lying in the Eastern Himalayas and covering about 7000 square kilometres, nearly one third of the state lies in protected areas. The local communities heavily rely on mountain ecosystems, forests and agriculture. Ecological risks, in the region, directly translate into economic and cultural ones. 

While a lot has been said about Sikkim being India’s first organic state, little has been said about how schools have enthusiastically contributed to sustainable initiatives in the state. Successive governments saw schools as a place where children could experience sustainable living, and ensured it became a part of their daily formal education.

Sikkim's adoption of the Green Schools Programme (GSP), developed by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Rather than introducing another textbook, the programme encouraged schools to assess their own environmental performance across water, waste, energy, biodiversity, food and air.  Compost pits, kitchen gardens, waste segregation, rainwater harvesting and biodiversity audits became primary educational tools instead of supplementary material to textbooks.

These experiments also reveal something important: localisation does not happen through curriculum design alone. It depends on educators who can turn a nearby forest, waste stream, wetland, farm or neighbourhood into a site of learning.