By Premanjana Das
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Mission LiFE Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Faith for Earth, and the Directorate of Delhi is organizing the 2023 International Value Education Olympiad. The Olympiad inspires and empowers students worldwide to embrace and embody essential values from Gita while making a positive environmental impact.
The impact has been significant in previous years. In just the last two years, more than 480,000 students from more than 20 countries have participated in the program. More than 400,000 saplings have been planted as a part of this event. The event is open to students in 5th-12th grades from all schools in two languages (English and Hindi). By delving into thought-provoking questions and practical scenarios, participants explore and apply values such as compassion, honesty, respect, and gratitude.
“We wanted our focus to be on practical change regarding the environment. Thus we kept this event as a two-step process. First, students download our Future Ethics ebook and study it for the online exam. For the second step, students can choose from three project categories: Ideate (idea formulation), Ideate and Create (model development), or Ideate, Create, and Implement (real-world implementation) for any solution to the environmental crisis. Accompanied by a detailed report and relevant photographs, the students are assessed in both categories to declare winners,” shared Karuna Chandra Das, who has been leading the initiative for the last five years. Participants are encouraged to develop and implement lifestyle changes that positively influence their surroundings.
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