Young people from Kolkata and the Sundarbans came together for the Conference of Schools (COS) 2023 to discuss how to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to them. The purpose of this event was to give kids currently enrolled in academic institutions between the ages of 13 and 17 (Classes 8 through 12) the chance to demonstrate their problem-solving abilities and to network with influential decision-makers and sustainability specialists. 26 schools from all over Kolkata and 54 kids from the Sundarbans attended the conference at Offbeat CCU in Kolkata.

The theme for COS 2023 was “Mitigation and Adaptation Solutions Proposed by Youth to Climate Change Challenges in Kolkata and Sundarbans”.

The topics of focus of this Conference included Urban greenery, Blue Infrastructure (waterbodies, lake systems, wetlands, and rivers), Traffic Congestion, Air Pollution, Waste (Upcycling, Recycling, Management, Segregation), Sustainable Mobility (Electric Vehicles, Non Motorised Transport), Survival of Sundarbans, and Natural Disasters. Students presented their insights and solutions in English, Hindi, or Bengali.

The ground-breaking platform provided students with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn practical skills like critical thinking, writing and research, teamwork, problem-solving, and public speaking in order to deepen their understanding of topics related to climate change, research local issues, and design solutions that can be replicated at scale. In short, COS 2023 exposed young people in Kolkata to issues facing the city and showed them how they had the capacity to influence its destiny.

The Conference was inaugurated in the presence of Guest of Honour Consul-General Manfred Auster, German Consulate General Kolkata.

School delegations presented their study on the topic of their choice during the morning session of the pre-conference, which lasted more than three weeks. They got evaluation and criticism from mentors who are seasoned experts in the subject.

Mallika Jalan of CCC, Anshuman Das of Welthungerhilfe, Nobina Gupta of Disappearing Dialogues, Arjan Basu Roy of Nature Mates, Dr. Bhargab Maitra and Dr. Saptarshi Sen of IIT Kharagpur, Suparna Dutta of SwitchON Foundation, Kankana Das of LIFE, Lata Bhatia of Kolkata Zero Waste Bazaar, Sujata Chatterjee of Twirl.store, Priyank Patel of Livolt, Satanjib Gupta of Kolkata Cycle Samaj, Manohar Bethapudi of Motovolt, Dr. Niranjan Jaladas of Netaji Nagar College for Women, Dr. Mourani Sinha of Techno India University and Susmita Guha of Save the Children were mentors for COS 2023.

Following a lunch break, the school delegations that had been working on the same subject came up with a list of the top methods and responses to combat climate change that they had discovered while conducting their research with the help of mentors.

The day concluded with the synthesized presentations being delivered to key government stakeholders such as Shri Rajanvir Singh Kapoor (IAS), MD WBTC, Shri Kaliyamurthi Balamurugan, Chief Environment Officer, Dept. of Environment, GoWB, Shri Atul Prakash, Principal Director, RTI, IA & AD, Govt. of India, Kolkata, Col. Indrajit Roy, General Manager, New Town Business Club, Shri Santanu Patra, Superintending Engineer, C-III, R&B Sector, KMDA, Shri Ujjal Bose, Sr. Audit Officer, RTI, IA & AD, Govt. of India, Kolkata along with industry experts such as Mrs. Manoshi Roy Chowdhury, Co-Chairperson, Techno India Group, Mr. Pradip Chopra, Chairman, PS Group, Mr. Nandan Mall, Founder and CMD, Hulladek and an awards ceremony for top three school delegations who would receive opportunities to be mentored by various experts on sustainability to implement their ideas.

The winners of the Conference of Schools 2023 were Techno India Group Public School, Garia (Winner), Shri Shikshayatan School (First Runner-Up), and Mahadevi Birla World Academy (Second Runner-Up).