As a follow up to the school and college programme, PEF has started after school eco clubs where students and adults alike can actively take part in different activities. Activities range from learning simple tree planting and waste management skills to more intense mountaineering, sustainable architecture, conservation management techniques, wildlife watching and bird identification skills.

The main aim of the eco club is to explore and enhance the natural biological learning within every individual. Knowing is a process of making sense of the unknown by engaging with it and not memorizing the description. Knowing is a natural biological phenomenon which is often suppressed by continual learning processes in our educational institutions. The real ‘knowledge’ in schools is negligible. Meanwhile children learn the involuntary content of school systems – fear of authority, mistrust of internal knowledge, fear of making a mistake. The whole system turns genuine, imaginative, creative minds into those who can only imitate and copy.

The NisargaVaachan Initiative is targeting school children of classes 5 -10 (Ages 11 to 17). The first visit aims to introduce the students to the fascinating world of environment and wildlife. Following the first visit, the initiative aims to form a ‘NisargaVaachan Club’ where interested students can become members. Activities for the Club will include the screening of films, presentations, tree planting, waste management, mountaineering, campaigning and interactive sessions that help the natural process of learning and enhance the existing EVS and zoology curriculum. Field trips are also organised and based on the field trips students can make different projects and reports. The Club can be run and managed by the students with regular assistance from PEF. NisargaVaachan has already been initiated in Ratnagiri, Sangameshwar and Baramati.

NisargaVaachan runs in collaboration with People’s Empowering Movement in Konkan (PEM) and Sakal Social Foundation (SSF). PEM is working on empowerment and education in Ratnagiri and SSF has several programmes across Maharashtra.