Wipro Limited organized the tenth edition of the Wipro earthian awards for the year 2020 on Saturday, February 13, 2021. The annual awards recognize excellence in sustainability in education in schools and colleges in India.
Wipro earthian is one of India’s largest sustainability education programs for schools and colleges. The 2020 edition of the Wipro earthian program received over 900 project entries, out of which winning entries from 20 schools and 8 colleges were selected by an independent jury.
The teams from schools demonstrated their understanding of biodiversity, waste and water through activity based learning programs and written essays. The teams from colleges submitted journalistic entries on the themes of water, waste and agriculture in the urban sustainability context.
The Wipro earthian awards have seen a threefold increase in the number of participants since its inception in 2011. The program has engaged with over 55,000 schools and colleges, 130,000 students and 13,000 teachers from across India. The support from Wipro’s education partners across the country has helped expand the reach of the program.
The winning institutes were felicitated by Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji at a virtual event held on Saturday. They will receive a certificate along with a cash prize. They will also get an opportunity to engage with Wipro and its sustainability partners through continuous collaborative programs that will enable a deeper understanding of issues critical to sustainability.
The virtual event featured a keynote talk by David Quammen, world renowned author and science journalist who talked about his research and insights into the delicate balance of biodiversity and how pandemics like COVID-19 originate when we disturb that balance.
The event also had Jadav “Molai” Payeng, Forest Man of India sharing his journey through a recorded interview and 9 year old Licypriya Kangujam who shared her message with the students on her journey of becoming a climate activist at a young age. The day concluded with the 2020 National Finals of the Wipro earthian Sustainability Quiz, hosted by noted quizmaster, Lloyd Saldana from Greycaps India Pvt Ltd.
On this occasion, Anurag Behar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wipro Limited said, “Wipro earthian is our flagship program that seeks to encourage young minds across the country to think and act in a more sustainable manner. Started in 2011, it has been a remarkable 10 years in which we have seen the program grow and evolve on multiple dimensions. Seeing young students from across the length and breadth of the country engage with sustainability with so much zeal and passion gives us reason for hope.”