One of the fun-filled contests in The Green Schools Carnival 2025 was Spoof to Stage: The Gobar Times Comic Satire Skit Contest, where the school kids got to showcase their humorous side in a unique take on the spoof posters featured in the beloved Gobar Times. The kids were handed the task of coming up with out-of-the-box ideas for a satirical skit which apart from showing their creativity, also displayed their understanding and empathy for environmental issues. The kids creatively used only recycled, waste or eco-friendly materials as their props and costumes. Their goal was to spark the flame of ecological and sociological consciousness in their audience. The themes of the spoof skits ranged from particulate pollution, health issues caused by overeating junk food, and waste segregation to the conversation around Minimum Support Price and effect of climate change on honey harvesting.
Little Flowers Public Senior Secondary School, Delhi, won First Prize in the Gobar Times Comic Satire Skit Contest.
The team that won the first place was Little Flowers Public Senior Secondary School, Delhi (See the photo above). The skit team consisted of Rohaan Kohli, Khushi Bansal, Prachi Gupta and Tanmay Sahni. They performed their skit on the spoof poster Taiyaari Fees Ki, addressing the issue of overeating, especially junk food, and how that is leading to type-1 diabetes in young kids. They impressed the judges and the audience with their comic timing, script writing and incredible costumes made from waste materials such as a tunic made of discarded chips packets.
The second place was awarded to Delhi Public School, Pune, Maharashtra. Their skit team of two members, Garvita Miglani and Sharanya Shisheer Deshpande, were very creative with their dialogues and wrote rap songs to convey their thoughts on the spoof poster Honey Heist. The theme of this poster was the effect of climate change on Cholanayakan and Kattunayakan tribes, who rely on honey collection for their livelihoods.
Cambridge School, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, participating in the Gobar Times Comic Satire Skit Contest.
All the teams displayed fantastic spontaneity and creativity when it came to writing and performing their skits. It was a thoroughly enjoyable part of the GSP Carnival, where the participants and the audience alike, had a great time while also gaining knowledge about their environment and society.
Sub-editor, Books Publications Team, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi