New Delhi: The Environment Ministry will launch an awareness initiative, under which an online quiz competition 'Prakriti Khoj' will be conducted at the national level on September 5, on the occasion of Teachers' Day, a statement said.
The ministry in the statement said that it will be an ideal medium to reach out to young minds through a fun-filled interactive learning mode to trigger their sensitivity towards environment protection and conservation.
"This quiz, in a way, will provide a unique platform for students to measure their awareness level regarding environmental issues. It aims to motivate them towards effective participation in other major programmes related to conservation and protection of the ministry," it said.
Highlighting the objective behind the competition, it said that this will generate interest among school children about the science and issues related to the environment.
"This will help in sensitising children and youth to issues related to the environment and motivate children towards environment conservation-oriented lifestyles.
"It will trigger their sensitivity towards nature appreciation and conservation, leading to positive environmental actions at different levels," the statement said.
Elaborating the details of the competition, it said that the quiz will be conducted in two phases.
For the first phase, it is envisaged that maximum number of children of schools under the National Green Corps (NGC) programme of the ministry should get an opportunity to participate, the statement said.
It said that NGC was initiated by the ministry in 2001-02 for creating environmental awareness among children by forming 'Eco-clubs' in schools across the country.
"There are around 1,00,000 Eco-clubs across the country, making it one of the largest conservation networks, wherein students are involved in various kind of activities such as cleanliness drives, carrying out waste segregation, composting using bio-degradable wastes, subsisting the concept of three R's--Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; Nukkad Nataks etc," it said.
Three age groups are planned to be covered in the first phase which will be open only to Eco-clubs that is in the age-groups 8-12 years, 13-15 years and 16-18 years.
Based on the feedback received from the participants, the second phase of the quiz will be open to students from all schools across the country in the year 2018, the statement said.
It added that the quiz will be held online through multiple choice questions and thematic areas like climate change, biodiversity, forest and wildlife, pollution, waste management, rivers and lakes and natural history will be covered.
Other areas to be covered include international conventions such as convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
It said that a separate web portal- www.ngc.nic will provide information on the quiz competition has been developed by the Ministry.
Relevant dates of the quiz will be updated on the 'Prakriti Khoj' portal, as well as the ministry's website and the students from Eco-clubs specially registered on the portal will be able to participate in the qualification round from September 18, 2017, onwards.
The quiz will be organised in school premises under the supervision of Principals/Eco-club Coordinators and the winners will be given cash prizes.
All participants will receive an e-certificate of participation, duly signed by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Union minister for environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardhan had said that children and youth should be actively involved in promoting a mass movement as they can make a difference at both local and community level.
He wanted the youth to become "Paryavaran Prerak" as the movement in due course will lead to awareness at village, city, state and country level.
With PTI Inputs