Visually impaired children Pokar Jignesh and Jigar Patel were also part of the quiz competition that was conducted at Natarani on Saturday
“The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it’s been handed over to us.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
Environment is a blessing bestowed upon us by the almighty and thus it is our duty to take care of it as long as we live. Darpana Academy in the city started an initiative along these lines five years ago to introduce environmental issues to children. Srishti— the Environmental Quiz was born, with a vision to empower young people to act as agents of change and to right the wrongs in society.
The quiz competition was conducted at the Natarani on Saturday. Altogether 115 schools from the Ahmedabad participated in the event. It was conducted all over Gujarat and a preliminary written test was conducted. “It started with 500 plus schools and the number of schools being invited for the Quiz has crossed 12,000 today. We invite students of standards 8th and 9th and conduct test at ten different centres in the state”, states a member of the Darpana Academy’s team who conducted the test.
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More people are now aware of environment degradation, the ozone layer, carbon footprints, deforestation and such terms thanks to the environmentalists and activists. It is an attempt to address the imminent dangers of ignoring signs that the environment cannot be burdened further.
Darpana for many years has been making efforts in educating the masses. One such exercise is involving school kids from across the state, urban as well as rural, by organizing an annual Environment Quiz in Gujarati — Srishti — the Environment Quiz. We expect the participants to turn activists and help in protecting the environment.
This is the only Gujarati quiz and one of the most popular children’s TV programme. Ever since its inception, year after year, schools have been continuously showing their interest in participating in the quiz,” he adds.
“I’m glad to be a part of it. I loved the quiz as it was informative and they had very questions,” says Jaimin Shah, a participating student. On the other hand Saumya Mishra felt that there were many new aspects that she wasn’t aware of: “I didn’t know that Entomology was the study of insects.”
Nak Nisarg, another participant, validated the motive of the quiz by adding, “It is good to improve my IQ and learn things about the environment. I learnt about green building which was very interesting. I also learnt a lot while preparing for this quiz.”
Partially blind children Pokar Jignesh and Jigar Patel were also a part of the quiz. They shared their excitement to be a part of this quiz but were disappointed as they were not selected. “It was our first quiz but we are going to be preparing for it and improve our knowledge. I also learnt the Jose software”, says an excited Patel. Archana Raghav, a student says “I have taken a pledge to protect environment now.”
Mallika Sarabhai, Director of Darpana academy along with environment expert Deepak Gohil selected the questions for the quiz. While addressing the children Sarabhai added that “the environment is not a subject but it’s our life.”
The Quiz has consistently received very high TRPs on Doordarshan 1 (Girnar). 32 winning teams will take part in a TV Quiz which will be broadcast at prime time on Sunday evenings, starting May 1st. The quiz is sponsored by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.
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