The Universal Scholar Journal

Abstract

Climate literacy is increasingly understood as a combination of climate-system knowledge, systems thinking, justice awareness, socio-emotional resilience, digital competence, and capacity for informed action. India has also developed substantial curricular, digital, and whole-school infrastructure that could support these outcomes. Yet the relevant initiatives remain dispersed across curriculum reform, learning platforms, broadcast systems, clubs, exemplar schools, civil-society programmes, and environmental assessment. This conceptual study asks how these assets can be connected through Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE). It combines an integrative review, theory synthesis, document analysis, and an illustrative multiple-case analysis of seven Indian initiatives: the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 and associated NCERT/CBSE resources; DIKSHA; PM e-VIDYA; Eco Clubs for Mission LiFE; PM SHRI Schools; WWF-India's One Planet Academy and Mission Prakriti; and TERI's GREEN Olympiad. Cross-case comparison shows complementary strengths in curricular legitimacy, scalable digital access, multimodal inclusion, learner action, whole-school sustainability, teacher mediation, and large-scale engagement. It also identifies five recurring gaps: weak curricular progression, fragmented programme governance, insufficient climate-digital teacher preparation, limited conversion of participation into assessed learning, and unequal access and contextualization. In response, the paper proposes the Climate Literacy through Open, Distance, and Digital Education (CL-ODDE) Framework, organized around seven interacting domains and equity-related cross-cutting principles. The cases are illustrative rather than evaluative; therefore, programme claims are treated as evidence of design and potential, not verified educational impact. The framework offers a context-sensitive curriculum pathway and an agenda for empirical validation in Indian schools.

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Integrating Climate Literacy into Indian School Curricula through Open, Distance, and Digital Education: An Illustrative Multiple-Case Analysis