Thousands of Students Will Skip School For Global Climate Strike

Responding to the call of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, India is all set to witness its own 'Climate Strike'. From September 20 to 27, thousands of school students from across the country will skip schools to be part of the Climate Strike. Their objective?

This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Our house is on fire — let’s act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone.

Until now 13 cities across the country from Delhi to Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai have announced of the hosting of the event. The first Global Student Climate Strike was held on March 15th, 2019.

Greta Thunberg had started FridaysForFuture after observing major political inaction on the current global climate crisis. She began the initiative in August 2018 by sitting in front of the Swedish parliament every school day for three weeks to protest the alarming lack of action.

Every Friday recently classrooms have grown quiet while streets worldwide have come to life again with the chants and cries of a new generation of climate activists.  What started as a one-person protest by Greta Thunberg has grown to a movement of millions sacrificing their #FridaysForFuture in over 160 countries in at least 2000 locations.

Thunberg's movement had its impact in India too, and there have been climate strikes by school and college students in the country in the past few months, demanding that decision-makers take urgent action on the climate crisis. The May 24 climate strike saw a great turnout in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and others.

The Global Climate Strike notes:

People all over the world will use their power to stop “business as usual” in the face of the climate emergency. Young people hope this moment will show that they have the backing of millions of human beings who have a growing dread about the climate emergency but who have so far stayed mostly on the sidelines.

Last month a young climate activist from India was selected as one of the 100 outstanding climate champions  from around the world for a special 'Green Ticket' that will help them travel to the UN headquarters next month to participate in the first-ever Youth Climate Summit, a platform for young leaders to showcase their solutions for climate change on a global stage.