In view of deteriorating air quality in Maharashtra, due to rapid urbanization and the significant increase of vehicular transport ,  Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, hosted a Training of Trainers workshop in Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation School no 14. The workshop was conducted by the subject matter experts from the industry and specially designed to equip teachers of government schools as Master Trainers, to further conduct air pollution awareness sessions and footprint reducing activities for their students in the future. It is important to protect the children from the hazards of air pollution, and to equip them with knowledge to counteract. This program focused on enhancing application-based knowledge and skills to improve an individual’s understanding on how their actions can reduce air pollution, improve air quality and ultimately improve one’s health. Over 50 teachers from UMC schools participated in this workshop.

To encourage their participation in reducing quality impact, the trainer, Dr. Milind Kulkarni explained the importance of air pollution awareness done on-ground to foster a sense of accountability in the minds of the teachers towards air pollution and make them understand how the students and their families can contribute towards improving urban air quality at a community and citizen-level. The training touched upon various core knowledge topics regarding air pollution basics; the matter, composition and gravity of the situation. The teachers were provided with various innovative solutions for student projects such as in-house composting, mapping the air quality of their surroundings and promoting non-vehicular transport. The mission to make every school in Ulhasnagar “A sustainable school campus” was envisioned, and teachers were provided with the knowledge and solutions to pass the knowledge to their students.

The workshop aimed at a multiplier effect through adopting an approach that would facilitate widespread knowledge dissemination, which was well received by the teachers. The topic of waste segregation and pollution control was discussed by the participants and the trainer, with a solution-oriented approach to mitigate the waste issue on-ground and positively emphasized the need for such awareness programs, successfully validating the purpose of this program.

The workshop was concluded by remarks of Deputy-Commissioner Dr. Subhash Jadhav, who encouraged the participant teachers to practice the learnings of the workshop and requested all to contribute towards improving urban air quality at a community and citizen-level through successful implementation of the workshop.