250 champions trained on World Environment Day

In a landmark initiative launched on the World Environment Day 2025, 250 master trainers gathered at Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School, Bhagtanwala (Amritsar), to be trained to address — air pollution and climate change — two of the state’s most urgent challenges.

Organised by Clean Air Punjab, in collaboration with Sri Guru Harkrishan Public Schools (CKD Society), and with several city’s non-profit organisations, including Phulkari WOA, Air Care Centre at Khalsa College for Women and Voice of Amritsar, the workshop equipped educators with hands-on tools, real-time air quality data and a participatory school module.

These trainers will now take learnings back to their schools and communities — ensuring the ripple effect reaches thousands of students across Punjab.

Shweta Mehra, educationist, hub member at Clean Air Punjab and the lead facilitator for the workshop, said, “We’re not just training teachers — we’re building a movement.” She said, “Each of these 250 trainers will go on to guide hundreds of children on what climate change means for Punjab, and what we can do about it — locally, practically and urgently. Educators need to pull up their socks to prepare children not only academically, but make them future-ready to mitigate climate change too.”

From identifying causes of air pollution such as stubble burning and vehicular emissions, to discussing the impact of rising temperatures and declining green cover, the training focused on climate-smart solutions that students and schools can adopt.

Nidhi Sindhwani, philanthropist and joint-national head Phulkari, who was among trainers, stressed on the importance of community-rooted responses. “Climate change affects farmers, women and marginalised communities first. Through these trainers, we’re taking climate knowledge beyond textbooks and into lived realities,” she said.

The initiative also drew strong support from the educators of the host institution.

Principal Jaspal Kaur of Sri Guru Harkrishan Public School (CKD Society) remarked, “We are proud to lead this effort. Climate change is no longer a distant threat — its disrupting lives now. Schools must be places of both learning and leadership.”

Two-hundred and fifty trainers will now implement a structured air quality and climate education module in their respective institutions over the coming months. This marks one of the largest school-led climate action programmes in Punjab, ensuring that children are not only aware of the crisis, but also equipped to act.

The Education Department in the state in collaboration with the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology has already established Eco Clubs across 8,000 educational institutions to organise awareness and mitigation activities against climate change.