OXYGEN
PARIKRMA OXYGEN
- The first outdoor and nature school for children from urban slums in India
- A land regeneration project: converting a dry, barren land into a food forest
- First-of-its-kind innovative curriculum with core subjects based in nature and outdoors applicable in daily life
- Oxygen aims to translate the seemingly innate love of the outdoors in children into a lifelong commitment to caring for the planet
- Empowering those most vulnerable to climate change, enabling preparedness
- Giving back the childhood a majority of youth have lost for none of their doing
Parikrma Oxygen
PARIKRMA OXYGEN
- The first outdoor and nature school for children from urban slums in India
- A land regeneration project: converting a dry, barren land into a food forest
- First-of-its-kind innovative curriculum with core subjects based in nature and outdoors applicable in daily life
- Oxygen aims to translate the seemingly innate love of the outdoors in children into a lifelong commitment to caring for the planet
- Empowering those most vulnerable to climate change, enabling preparedness
- Giving back the childhood a majority of youth have lost for none of their doing
WHY PARIKRMA OXYGEN?
Crisis 1:
Our children come from homes in over 100 slums spread across Bengaluru city. Their parents are mainly daily wage labourers with average monthly incomes from Rs 4000 to 6000. A typical household in the slums has an average of five people living together in about 100 square feet of space with no attached toilet or running water.
All Parikrma schools are rented spaces close to the slums to ensure the children are regular and can walk to school. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to buy or rent large infrastructure. Hence, most of our schools are either residential houses or small establishments converted into schools – cramped classrooms with poor ventilation and a lack of open spaces. There is no play area either. The claustrophobia is real.
All of 11.5 acres of open land, Parikrma Oxygen, under the Parikrma Unbound initiative, will witness children from each of our schools spend a few weeks at the farm around the year.
Oxygen is a temporary residential school offering no “walls” but just loads of native trees, ponds and outdoor activities and nature-inspired education to all our 1800 children.
We want our children to be close to the land as their ancestors have been. This is the genesis of creating a generation of youth who are sensitive to the environment and care for it.
Crisis 2:
With 98% of the fathers being alcoholics, the children witness much domestic abuse and violence.
With 92% of the families having some family member in jail, the children also experience fear and threats from the authorities.
Children exhibit suppressed anger and resentment, impacting academics and choices in life. Many are often nervous, restless, and confused.
The lack of public space in the slums leaves children confined to playing alongside large open drains that are both dangerous and unhygienic.
Many studies highlight how the physical environment influences people’s attitudes and behaviour. We see the validity of such studies in our day-to-day operations in our 180sq ft classrooms.
Parikrma Oxygen will house 24/7 counselling and mental health care as a primary facility on its premises
Children, for the first time, will be introduced to new sounds and interactions: surrounded by trees, nature sounds as they watch wild species do their business. We believe that nature is the best teacher and healer, and we want our children to have access to this alternative.
Go on long walks, observe nature and, what our children need most, the art and gift of stillness.
Our professional child counsellors and psychologists will counsel children with behavioural issues, one to one, in a non-threatening environment.
Crisis 3:
The need for skilling in children sustained by rote learning has been clear. The lack of adequate support for anything other than academics, like sports, is also unmistakable.
Parikrma Oxygen will enable:
Encourage interests & support for children seeking alternative careers
Children build their classrooms and make their tents
Grow their own food
Tend to the land and learn about soil and water
Learn and excel in outdoor sports and skills
Excel in team building activities and leadership skills
Learn music, art, theatre, poetry, pottery, among others
Crisis 4:
At an alarming rate, recent monsoons have flooded more children’s homes than ever, and excessive heat and unhygienic living conditions from piling garbage and open drains have caused long-term health issues – we also know they are the last to receive help. The poor and the women face the most brunt of climate change. It’s time to educate and enable those facing the crisis first-hand to understand better and prepare for the future.
Parikrma Oxygen will help each child develop an interest in and awareness of the environment and the ecosystem.
Solar-powered Oxygen will be a playground for ideas and models developed by our children for sustainable living and practices.
Nature education will remain the mainstay: right from understanding wildlife, the interdependence of all life forms, changing weather and its impact and the need to conserve and consume less.
Naturalists, researchers, conservationists, and sustainable lifestyle practioners nationwide will head these programs.
Right from its initiation days of working on absolutely barren land with children’s support, growing into a fully rewilded habitat with multiple learning and Innovative Labs – Parikrma Oxygen aims to create a first-of-its-kind education model in India.
We plan to design an impact assessment survey with the University of California and San Diego. It is important to monitor the impact of this new life-changing experience on children.
Every learning exercise and interaction with children and the land itself, will be analysed and documented to quantify change – in all forms.
A platform for growth of young leaders, changemakers and entrepreneurs – educated in the importance of a sharing and community-based economy, with roots nourished by nature and outdoor learning.
The school, once functional, will also be open to other government schools and low-end school children – we want children from everywhere to benefit and learn.