Delhi’s Modern School Launches YaRI Curriculum Bringing Yamuna To The Classrooms

In a bold and timely step towards environmental education and community engagement, The Modern Institute for Education (MIE), Modern School, has launched YaRI – the Yamuna River Curriculum, a pioneering educational initiative designed to connect school children with their local river, the Yamuna.
Developed with a deep sense of ecological urgency and cultural pride, the YaRI curriculum invites students to explore the Yamuna’s journey, history, biodiversity, challenges, and its vital role in sustaining life across North India. Through reading, interactive lessons, field visits, art, storytelling, and science projects, YaRI helps children understand not just the river’s geography—but its soul. 

The YaRI programme has developed learning resources, which comprise The River Speaks, an illustrated storybook that gives voice to the Yamuna and weaves together ecological facts with imagination and empathy, a comprehensive Teachers Guide, The Yamuna River – Its Future and You with detailed lesson plans, discussion prompts, and activity ideas to support meaningful classroom engagement and The YaRI website , which offers digital access to materials, project ideas, river stories, and a platform for schools to share their work and connect with others on the Yamuna. 

“The Yamuna is more than just a river. It’s a living legacy woven into our city, our heritage, and our daily lives. YaRI is our way of making sure children don’t just learn about the river—they care about it,” says Ambika Pant, Hon Secretary, Modern School.  

“The YaRI curriculum is a wonderful initiative that brings local environmental awareness into the heart of school education. This is one of the key objectives of the National Education Policy (2020) which encourages experiential and integrated learning. We encourage schools to adopt such learning approaches that connect students to their immediate ecosystems, says Mr Himanshu Gupta, Secretary, CBSE.

By starting with school children, the YaRI initiative hopes to build a deeper, long-term connection between people and their river. “If children grow up with knowledge and respect for the Yamuna, they will grow into adults who protect it,” says Dr Anviti Singh, Researcher at MIE.

The Teachers Guidebook and website are freely available through the website to all schools to incorporate YaRI in the mainstream academic curriculum.

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