Water Conservation and Awareness By Neha Vajandar and

Water Conservation and Awareness -By Neha Vajandar and Amruta Solanki (Hansraj Jivandas College of Education)

About the Project: • Facilitators: Neha Vajandar and Amruta Solanki • Place: St. Joseph's Church, Juhu, Mumbai • Number of children: Around 18 • Age group of children: 9 years – 13 years • Activities conducted: i. Puzzle game: On scarcity of water and water pollution. ii. Discussion on Issues: Water wastage and Drought conditions. iii. Sharing: of creative ideas and solutions on the same.

Activities: • Activity 1) Puzzle game: On scarcity of water and water pollution. We made two groups and gave each team a puzzle picture to solve; One: A big queue of people along the riverside to fill water. And other: Factories throwing all waste water into the river. So both the teams solved the puzzle and they came up with the topic of water scarcity and water pollution through these pictures. They discussed among themselves and one by one they presented it. They spoke about what the given picture was about, what may be the causes, effects and what measures we should take to prevent such issues. Children were very enthusiastic to give the suggestions like we should not waste water, should not throw garbage in water, factories also should not throw waste products, chemicals, etc in lakes, rivers. This activity was fun for them and they really enjoyed it. Also, they learnt about the different aspects of the two issues in a creative way.

Activities: • Activity 2) Discussion on Issues: Water wastage and Drought conditions. We showed them pictures of; One: Holi rain dance - in which people were playing the Holi festival with water, dancing in water and wasting a tank full of water. And other: of a Drought place and we asked them - what they had observed in the respective pictures. They explained the pictures. We then asked them what they thought about the relation between the two pictures. They told us that in some places where there are no water problems, people may be careless and waste water to play Holi. While, in some places there is no enough water so there is a situation of drought. A very interesting discussion was carried out. And the students shared their views with immense emotions. It was delightful to see their active participation.

Activities: • Activity 3) Sharing: of creative ideas and solutions on the same. Pertaining to the events discussed in the last activities - We then asked them to think out of the box and come up with creative and innovative solutions to tackle such problems. They gave us many excellent suggestions like : By spreading awareness among people about water conservation (especially the places where people take for granted the availability of water); not polluting our water resources i. e. not throwing any wastes in these water bodies. Also, in our day to day life, water is wasted in many ways like while brushing to close the running tap, etc. They also said that the Government should take immediate steps towards solving these issues. They were thinking very critically on the several issues placed in front of them. At the same time, we observed that they were also getting sensitized towards them.

Conclusion: In this way, through these activities, the children learnt about the several issues related to water and how they could help solve them in their own way – which is their first step towards water conservation. Through the activities, we were also able to incorporate value infusion, population infusion for the children. The knowledge of these would support in the spread of awareness about water conservation too. The overall session was exciting and meaningful. The children actively engaged in learning by doing. They also got an opportunity for thinking critically, creatively, etc. Since, their emotions also were involved, they were sensitized to the issues. Finally, they used their psychomotor skills to play the puzzle game and then came across with their creative ideas. We also had a great time conducting this small workshop for them. The learning experience that we gained is remarkable. Thank you for giving us this opportunity.