Hema Divakar¹*, Swati Mahajan², Anuj Dandotia³, Mrunmayee Velukar⁴, Kritika Gupta⁵, Pallavi SP⁶, Sheetal Joshi⁷, GV Divakar⁸and Anand Bairagi⁹

¹Senior Consultant, ObGyn, CEO and Chairman - Asian Research and Training Institute for Skill Transfer (ARTIST), Medical Director - Divakars Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru, India
²Director Technology Innovations and Health Systems, South Asia, PATH, Bengaluru, India
³Lead SACH, CHRI, Bengaluru, India
⁴Program Officer, Climate and Health, PATH, Bengaluru, India
⁵Senior Officer - Communications and Knowledge Management, CHRI, Bengaluru, India
⁶Research Lead - ARTIST, Bengaluru, India
⁷Project Manager - ARTIST, Bengaluru, India
⁸Managing Director - Divakars Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru, India ⁹Managing Director - Divakars Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru, India

*Corresponding Author: Hema Divakar, Senior Consultant, ObGyn, CEO and Chairman - Asian Research and Training Institute for Skill Transfer (ARTIST), Medical Director - Divakars Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru, India.

Received: December 09, 2024; Published: March 25, 2025

Abstract

Objective: Climate change is the significant global challenge with profound impact on children’s health and well-being. Despite their unique vulnerability to climate-related shocks, children’s perspectives are often overlooked in climate policies and programs. ARTIST for Her, in collaboration with the Sustainable Action for Climate and Health (SACH) Initiative, conducted a study to assess climate change awareness among school-going children in Bengaluru and Kolar.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of 1,054 schoolchildren (grades 7–10) regarding climate change and its health impacts. Data were collected using a pre-tested, structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to explore key predictors of KAP. Ethical approval was obtained, informed consent ensured, and responses anonymized to protect privacy. While potential limitations such as sampling and response biases were acknowledged, clear instructions and validation techniques ensured data accuracy and reliability. Survey was conducted in Bengaluru and Kolar with 1054 students of seventh, eighth, ninth and Tenth grades. The gender structure of the participants in the study compromises 56.2% of Girls and 43.8% boys.

Results: The survey results reveal insightful trends about climate change awareness and perceptions. While over half of the students (50.1%) reported being "very familiar" with climate change, a significant 33.5% remain unsure, highlighting knowledge gaps. Students demonstrated strong awareness of visible climate impacts, such as extreme weather events and glacier melting, but fewer recognized the health risks associated with climate change. Tree planting (86.5%) emerged as the most favoured mitigation strategy, followed by water conservation and waste reduction. However, awareness of energy conservation seems to lag, as only 37.2% emphasized the importance of saving electricity. This may indicate gaps in education around energy efficiency. Personal responsibility was widely acknowledged, with 79.1% emphasizing individual actions to combat climate change, though males exhibited higher uncertainty than females.

Conclusion and Recommendations: The survey results call for enhancing climate change education through targeted interventions that address gaps in familiarity and understanding, especially regarding health impacts. Schools should adopt interactive and experiential learning methods, such as workshops and field activities, to engage students effectively. Promoting actions like tree planting, water conservation, and waste reduction can further sustain interest and participation. Educational content should be simplified and made relatable to bridge uncertainties, particularly among less familiar groups. Encouraging personal responsibility and fostering sustainable behaviours are essential for empowering students as active contributors to climate action and building a climate-resilient future generation.

Keywords: Climate and Health, Climate Change Awareness, Sustainable Behaviour

References

1. https://unfccc.int
2. Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
3. World Meteorological Organization (WMO). State of the Global Climate 2020 (2020).
4. The Climate Crisis Is a Child Rights Crisis: Introducing the Children’s Climate Risk Index. New York: UNICEF.
5. Engaging Children in Climate Adaptation: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press (2022).
6. High School Student's Awareness and Attitudes Toward Climate Change.
7. Students’ Awareness towards Climate Change: A Study of Climate Change Effects on Human Health in Nepal.

Citation

Citation: Hema Divakar., et al. “Assessing School Children's Awareness of Climate Change and Its Impact on Human Health".Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 9.4 (2025): 114-125.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Hema Divakar., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.