Our school at Agraa

Posting the article on our Madhya Pradesh field base and the images of our Meghalaya field base in the previous week made me reopen my favourite images. These are from my assocation at Agraa (near the Kuno WLS - Madhya Pradesh) where I was primarily involved with the education programme.

Thanking Aniruddha Mookerjee once again for clicking these.

I dont recall her name now but this is at Ahirwani village and she had then attended the school for few days only, this being one.

This was at Chapraith before the school time and the children were coy on seeing an outsider (Anirudh) at an early morning.

This is the school at Ahirwani. Villagers had contributed to extending the school after the number of students attending rose.

Post the bal mela of January 2003 we had regular activities in the schools besides academics. This image is from Laddar and i recall being very poor in this activity.

This is at Laddar and she used to bring water in a small vessel for cleaning her slate and used to help those sitting with her. Simply love this one ~

For recent action at the school ~ http://adharshilaschool.blogspot.com/

Images from South Garo Hills

In this post i share few images from the duration of my association with our Meghalaya field base at Baghmara in South Garo Hills.

This is a winter evening at Gongrot aking where i was interacting with members of self help group in the company of my colleague Leonard. The lights from the lantern and the logs burning (to keep us all warm) presented a unique situation.

This again in from Gongrot aking, albeit a winter morning, where i had ventured to the forests nearby with my colleague Mohanto. The dew in the chill was fascinating.

This is during a walk in the RRTC at Umran with my colleagues Yash and Vikash. We had gone to see the strawberry plantations and the butterflies caught our attention!

This squirrel and I looked at each other for quite long, each equally interested in the other. This was near the gate of the Balpakram National Park.

This is (in Assam) on the way from Guwahati to Baghmara after couple of cups of invigorating tea with Yash and Vikash !! The skies had cleared after the early morning rains and all around had a smile on the faces ..

Week with the School – December 2007

This post presents an article of mine that appeared in the July 2008 issue of ZoosPrint (Volume xxiii, number 7) and talks of my experience during one of the recent visits (December 2007) to Agraa. Agraa is located in the Vijajpur tehsil of Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh.

I was back at Agraa (Madhya Pradesh) after a long gap, back to what I loved – applying myself at our school. Agraa is the location of Samrakshan’s first field office and I had spent close to two years here – learning about children, teachers and life.

During the past few months I have been focusing on “Conservation Education and Awareness” – reading and deliberating on the subject as also attending a couple of workshops and interacting with individuals known for their work on the issue. During my short stint at Agraa I was to share my limited experience with colleagues at the school.

On the first day with teachers and Sunil (colleague and school coordinator) we discussed the Bal Mela (an event we organize annually at the school); their memories of the events organized in the recent years including the first held during January 2003 as also their plans and expectations from the forthcoming event. To gauge their involvement with conservation education and awareness, the activities learnt and undertaken by them as also their interactions with Anirban (colleague and wildlife biologist) we played a few games like “Who am I” and “Ball Catching” with them. I realized that our interaction sessions would have to be short, informal, in the open and include physical movement to infuse and retain energy – enthusiasm levels.

We started the second day by talking about colours. All of us looked out for different colours within the school campus – these were then segregated into those belonging to human created elements and natural elements. We then talked about the butterflies and leaves that we had noted from within the list of colours emoting from natural elements. Next was story writing – we narrowed down on 4 words that each of us had to use in writing a story. While the words and thus the story pertained to wildlife issues we discussed the importance of communication skills when each of us read her/his story. Then we got on to playing “Hawk and Pigeons” after christening it as “Sher aur Bakariya”. Some of the teachers had been playing it with children, albeit differently, and they shared their experiences.

The third day started in a similar fashion but by talking about sounds. Then we discussed medicinal plants. Balram (colleague and doctor) helped in the act. The tone was set by teachers naming a plant each and discussing its usages with Balram. He then distributed chits (two to each teacher) containing names of plants that grew in the school campus and possessed medicinal qualities. Each teacher was to bring two leaves from the plants mentioned in the chits with her/ him. These were then to be put in a book towards making an album for medicinal plants. Then we got on to following on “communications” on the earlier day by playing “Pressing the thumb”. This got us all excited enough to repeat it twice!

We began the fourth day by playing “Passing the Stones” to discuss the opposable thumb leading to small talk on primates – our flagship species at Mizoram field base. I then discussed with the teachers the efforts of Samrakshan at Meghalaya and Mizoram field bases, with help of photographs. Though some of them were absent the rest more than made up with a series of questions! They asked me if the species depicted in the photographs were present in the forests around Agraa and whether Samrakshan would replicate at Agraa some of the activities it undertook at Meghalaya and Mizoram. We then discussed colouring commencing with what each of us understood by the term. Then we took sketches of select species occurring in the forest around Agraa. Most of the teachers responded immediately with local names of these species as also spots where they had seen them but when it came to describing their colours they were in a quandary! We then got down to colouring the sketches.

On the fifth day we saw a film by Bharatiya Vidyapeeth Institutie for Environment Education and Research (BVIEER) – “Bagh Samrakshan – Ek Anokha Prayas” Unlike other films that the teachers had seen till then this was in Hindi (so did not need any translation) as also talked about the process of environment education that had been undertaken by BVIEER. After the screening we discussed the activities depicted in the film and whether we could also replicate them with equal success at Agraa.

The sixth and the final day began with each of us telling what we did outside of these interaction sessions during the last two days. Few teachers did interact on wildlife and conservation issues within themselves. We discussed story telling and what it meant for the children in the school. We selected a story and the teachers sat down to writing a shortened version of the story - one third of its length. When we got to orally sharing our versions we felt the need to redo it. The second attempt was an improvement for most of us and we ended our weeklong journey on a encouraging note.

This has been the most amazing week I have had in recent times.

Film Screenings - An effective tool for Conservation Education.

Samrakshan is an organisation mandated to promote participatory and sustainable biodiversity conservation in a socially just manner. Samrakshan’s Mizoram field base is located in Saiha district at the southern most tip of the state and acknowledged by experts to harbour some of the best remaining rainforests in north eastern India. The focus of our efforts, at this juncture, is entirely on conservation education and awareness. Activities are undertaken in a structured fashion with school going children and their teachers (of classes 5, 6 and 7) and members of institutions like the youth associations and village council members (institutions that espouse social sanction and exert influence in village level decision making). As a part of this programme we have put to use various tools towards facilitating interactions on wildlife conservation issues; these range from seeking space in existing newsletters (brought out by other institutions), screening films, organizing discussion sessions with youth associations and village council members to organizing painting and sketching events for school going children.

During the recent months we have screened two films by Sekhar Dattatri. ‘Nagarahole – Tales from an Indian jungle’ as a part of our discussions on wildlife occurring in Saiha (for select species would occur in both these forests and film would lay the platform for discussion on these species) and ‘Point Calimere – Little kingdom by the coast’ towards our talk on Palak Lake (a lake in Saiha). Nagarahole and Point Calimere are two Protected Areas (PAs) situated in Karnataka and Tamilnadu states in southern India.

Selection of the films to be screened depends on the subject then being discussed with the participants. Prior to screening a film for the participants two to five screenings, depending on the need, are held at our field base. During these the film is discussed threadbare. A list of the species (primarily mammals and birds) depicted in the film is then prepared. This list is bifurcated into species occurring in the region and others. For the species occurring in the region corresponding local names are collated. These could be in Mizo, Mara or Lai; three languages that people in Saiha use. Elementary information on these species is looked up in the field guides and other books. The relevant pages in the field guides are book marked are shared with participants in course of the screening. During the screenings participants are prompted to share the local names of select species and are also shown the relevant pages in the field guides. These films usually have a commentary in English or Hindi with English sub titles and their duration ranges from 30 to 60 minutes. At times, however, we cut down on the length of the film by screening only the portion that is relevant to the subject under discussion. Also at select points within the screenings we pause to allow deliberations; these pauses could be at our or participant’s initiative.

Screenings for members of village councils and youth associations are many times organized on television sets at a members’ residence. This is possible since the screening venue akin to the time is fixed by the participants. However, at most of the schools at each of the locations of Saiha, Phura and Tuipang where our programme operates we organize these screenings on our laptop computers. Laptops are of great utility in these schools that are bereft of electricity connection. Since the strength of a class varies from ten to twenty five the screen size is congenial to the activity; volume however is a concern on select occasions. During screenings at Donbosco School, at the district headquarter, that also possesses electricity connection we have put to use a projector and in tandem with the participants have experienced the thrill on seeing the impact. Basic details on screenings organized by us between February and June 2008 are tabulated below.

Some details of the screenings.

(Placed in text form as the blog format is not allowing me to place the table)

Films -

Point Calimere - Little Kingdom by the coast.

Nagarahole – Tales from an Indian jungle.

Screenings-

9 for institutions.

16 for schools.

Participants -

92 for institutions

936 for schools.

(The average size in a screening at Donbosco School is 110 (significantly higher than other schools) and a result the average participant size for schools is higher.

During these screenings participants have asked if Palak Lake (wetland like Point Calimere and recognized as Important Bird Area (IBA)) would have the water fowl, in large numbers, as depicted in the film on Point Calimere. When we discussed the concept of Wildlife Sanctuary in context of Point Calimere the participants have asked us of asked of the Wildlife Sanctuaries in Mizoram. On seeing Spotted dove (Streplopelia chinensis) and Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) an expression of familiarity dawned on their faces and they told us of the species occurring in the region. Primates with their swinging and scratching generated maximum vocal response followed by the dung beetle at work. Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) bathing and trumpeting too were followed by lot of chattering amongst the participants. They told us that Saiha, where we work, literally means “ivory” in Mizo language!

The hesitation, we had in the initial stages, on the success of films as a tool disappeared when we observed the body language of the participants during the screenings. Wide eyed and open mouthed students and institution members who did not get up to smoke even after the film was over brought forth the fact that films are loved by participants. At Donbosco School while the students requested us to show another film the next time we visit them; one of their teachers came up after the screening and requested for a copy of the film that he could screen the film for his children! We realized that despite the commentary in the films being in a language that many participants are not comfortable with film screenings make the participants don’t feel “subjected to”.

Screening of these films that focus on wildlife conservation has been of great utility to stimulate the sensitivities of the participants on these issues. This is coterminous to the educative value these films bring. Two reactions we recall with fondness. They bring out the connect these films, despite depicting places far away from the region, made with the participants. During the Point Calimere film a boy, sitting in the corner of the first row, was taking aim at the water fowl on the screen with an imaginary catapult in his hand! During the Nagarahole film a girl covered her face with her notebook when the Wild dogs (Cuon alpinus) bit into the then alive Spotted deer (Axis axis).

Acknowledgements.
Samrakshan thanks all programme participants for giving an opportunity to screen these films and also Sekhar Dattatri for sharing his films.

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This is an article of mine that finds place in the Mountain Forum Bulletin - January 2009 issue (Volume 9, Issue 1, ISSN 1815-2139). Also taking the opportunity to thank Marianne and Mountain Forum.