Today, ENO is a global Web school for environmental awareness, with 100 schools in 51 countries incorporating the programme on a weekly basis. It allows students and teachers to study different environmental themes, gather local data and share and analyse it together using email, audio-visual chats and discussion forums, all monitored by the project coordinators. An Epals section allows students to make friends with their peers from member schools.

Campaign Week: 28th October - November 4 What do people in Teheran think about their environment? Apart from war, what are Israel's other environmental problems? What are the environmental issues in Zimbabwe? What are the biggest environmental problems around the world? During September and October '02 students from ENO schools held interviews in their local communities to find out what people think about the state of the environment in different parts of world. The results of the survey will be published during this week and will be available here. In addition special live Webcasts and live chats about the results will be arranged in Finland, Canada and USA (Hawaii). An electronic booklet about My Favourite Place (by ENO students) will also be available for download.

In India, one of the first schools to get on board was the Assam Valley School (AVS) in the northern Sonitpur district.

Says ENO project coordinator at AVS, Rajiv Shrivastava, "This is one of the best examples of how technology can be used wisely to raise awareness about an issue that concerns the human race."

Participating students have benefited greatly. Standard X student, Radha Barooah got involved two years ago by writing articles for the site and taking part in surveys online. Lanusongla Lemtur, also from the same standard, says, "We communicate with other ENO members and share ideas about the environment, as well as other issues."

Both students were part of the Indian contingent at the first ENO conference in Finland, in July this year.

Radha, who stayed with a host family, describes this as one of the best experiences of her life so far. Besides meeting other school children from all over the world, the programme included activities like visiting a pulp mill and the national park, kite flying, trekking and outings.

Lanusongla says, "We showed a presentation of our environment, forests and school. We also learnt a lot about other cultures."

Students can choose ENO activities from a calendar on the Web site. Explains Vanhanen, "Nothing is compulsory. At the conference, teachers made the annual plan. I make specific weekly tasks with assistance from the teachers. We're quite democratic, and do what the schools would like to do."

The project has been well received, as is apparent from the recognition and awards it has gathered in two years: Third place at NetDays 2000, EcoGallery Europe 2000 and Childnet Awards 2001. This year, it is a finalist for the Stockholm Challenge Awards.

Financial resources are limited, says Vanhanen, and negotiations are on with European SchoolNet and various ministries of education to make the ENO project a more continuous and developing programme.

Currently, funding for the project is coordinated by the Eno school district and has received support from the National Board of Education and the European Commission.

Every year application for membership to the project is opened to schools worldwide. However the ones that get chosen are those that show real interest and can fit the project in their curriculum.

Interaction is the key, sums up Vanhanen, "We need more interaction between schools, students and teachers. More than an information society, we need an interactive society."

Links: -- ENO Background -- Conference Proceedings -- Campaign Week

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