MANUU College of Teacher Education-Bhopal Turns Single-Use Plastic Free Campus

Bhopal, 09th September 2021: As part of India’s plan to eliminate single-use plastics from the country by 2022, College of Teacher Education-Bhopal (a constituent college of Maulana Azad National Urdu University) has pledged and taken an initiative to make its campus single-use plastic free.

“Plastic pollution is a worldwide issue, with single-use plastics at the forefront. We are committed to eliminate all single-use plastics from our day-do-day lives, particularly from our campus,” stated Prof. Noushad Husain, Principal, College of Teacher Education.

Earlier, the Ministry of Education brought to the notice of all central universities (dated 16^th August 2021) that Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had framed the comprehensive action plan for elimination of identified single use plastics and implementation of plastic management rules 2016 to eliminate single-use plastic.

As directed by Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad (02^nd September 2021), College of Teacher Education-Bhopal has launched a slew of activities to eliminate single-use plastics from its campus. On this occasion, Prof. Noushad addressed the faculty members as well as other supporting staff.

In 2018, during the 45th World Environment Day celebrations, India took the pledge to eliminate all single-use plastics – carry bags, straws, and water bottles among others from the country by 2022.

“We need to work on providing easy to follow resources in order to reduce single-use plastic waste,” opined Prof. Noushad who floated several innovative ideas. He urged faculty members to inspire pre-service teachers to refuse to use single-use plastic.

On 09th September 2021, documentary film on plastic garbage was shown in Educational Technology (ET) Lab and the whole activities were conceptualized and executed by Dr. Neeti Dutta (Convener, Social & Cultural Committee) and her team members (Dr. Naheed Jahan Siddiqui and Mr. Saifuddin Ansari) in order to spread awareness, followed by a brainstorming session for minimizing and replacing plastic usage. During the brainstorming session, suggestions and innovation ideas were sought from the faculty members.

One of the innovative ideas came from Prof. Noushad who proposed to include an activity of making cloth bags by the pre-service teachers under the B.Ed. program which would be bought by faculty members and others in order to promote eco-friendly environment.

 

Further on 15th September 2021, workshop on making paper bags was held wherein all faculty members were provided with hands-on experience of how to make usable bags out of paper by Dr. Neeti Dutta. She also demonstrated how one can make cloth bags out of unusable clothes. In addition, she also led a team to dispose plastic items, thereby turning the Campus single-use Plastic Free.

Faculty members who actively participated in the activities were Prof. Abdul Raheem, Dr. Talmeez Fatma Naqvi, Dr. Khan Shahnaz Bano, Dr. Sakkeer V, Dr. Afaque Nadeem Khan, Dr. Rafeedali E, Dr. Jeena K G, Dr Jaki Mumtaj, Dr. Shabana Ashraf, Dr. Bhanu Pratap Pritam, Dr. Indrajeet Dutta, Dr. Shaikh Irfan Jamil, Mr. Shabbir Ahmed, Mr. Syed Md. Kahful Wara, Dr. Rubeena Khan, Ms. Abda Shabnam, Mrs. Tarannum Khan, Mr. Ahmad Husain, and Mr. Faheem Mohd. Khan.

Last but not least, special thanks to Mr. Syed Md. Kahful Wara and Mrs. Tarannum Khan along with ET Lab attendant Mr. Shabbir Ahmed for their technical support. 

Written by

Mr. Shabbir Ahmed

Assistant Professor

MANUU College of Teacher Education

Bhopal