Engaging youth for climate and environmental stewardship, Cabinet Minister for Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil on the occasion of Earth Hour, launched the Youth Leadership for Climate Action online self-paced course through Maha Youth for Climate Action (MYCA) platform at the YB Chavan Centre.
The course aims to inculcate and promote climate empowerment and environmental consciousness among the youth of Maharashtra. MYCA is a youth engagement platform for climate advocacy that is training on climate action planning, field implementation, reporting, and policy.
The Higher and Technical Education Department and UNICEF Maharashtra have been involved in the course design.
Course is available in English and Marathi
The course is free and is available in English and Marathi languages. Anyone between the age group of 15 to 29 years from Maharashtra can enrol in the course. The successful candidates would get a certificate on the completion of the course.
The e-course has five units of which two are mandatory, Climate Change and Water Management. The other three units like Energy Management, Waste Management, and Biodiversity Conservation are electives. The course also gives reference links for developing green skills and green job opportunities.
Professors from more than 3000 colleges will be trained
Launching the course, Minister Chandrakant Patil inspired youth to take up the cause of climate change. “We are witnessing untimely rainfall and heat wave at the same time. This is happening at an alarming rate making our environment more fragile. We want our young generation to understand the issue and act accordingly. The course would guide them on different elements of climate action where they can learn and disseminate the practices in the society.”
Vikas Rastogi, IAS, Principal Secretary of, the Higher and Technical Education Department said that during the program, more than 6,200 professors would be trained along with the formation of green clubs across 3,000 colleges.
Director of technical education department urges professors to motivate students
Dr. Shailendra Deolankar, Director of, the Higher and Technical Education Department, said “Being the director of Higher and Technical Education, I am appealing to 5,000 colleges in Maharashtra and their professors to motivate their students to complete this online course.”
Mr. Yusuf Kabir from UNICEF Maharashtra called for more climate-conscious youth than climate anxious’. He said “UNICEF’s climate and environment sustainability strategy focuses on engaging and empowering youth as agents of change. The course has been designed to support youth to become climate protectors and motivate others to take action.”
The course is available at https://www.mahayouthnet.in
