Delhi, September 18, 2014: Exhorting educators to become stakeholders in conservation of India’s natural heritage, the International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) and the Environment Department, Government of Delhi, began a series of workshops for school teachers in the capital, today.

The workshops titled ‘Role of teachers in wildlife conservation and animal welfare’ are being hosted under IFAW-WTI’s Animal Action Education (AAE) project that aims to sensitise school children. Three workshops will be held in north, south and west Delhi between today and Saturday, respectively, reaching out to more than 100 school teachers.

During the workshop. Photo: Achintya Tripathi / IFAW-WTI

“We have organised various activities with school eco-clubs but not much to do with wildlife. Considering the problems faced by wildlife today, we thought it would be good for teachers to learn about this,” said Dr BC Sabat, Senior Scientific Officer, for the Delhi Government’s Environment Department, thanking the teachers for taking time out to attend the workshop. “We have to teach our students how to respect nature, because unless we care about others, we will not be able to survive ourselves.”

The first workshop was held today at the Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh.

Each workshop begins with an introduction to India’s biodiversity, designed to expand the teachers’ knowledge and interest. The teachers are also made aware of the various threats faced by wildlife today, and how effective education can help in their mitigation.

Sheren Shrestha talking about Animal Action Education and how teachers can play a crucial role in helping create awareness among the children. Photo: Achintya Tripathi / IFAW-WTI

“Teachers play a crucial role in shaping up a society by creating conscientious adults of their students,” said Sheren Shrestha, Manager – IFAW-WTI. “Awareness is the tip of the ice-berg, so to say. As our Executive Director Vivek Menon puts it, awareness is the first step; the next is empathy. What we are trying to achieve is the third, where knowledge and empathy is reflected in positive action for the environment.”

Accordingly, the teachers are made aware of the force they can create for nature, and are motivated to involve their students in ‘green’ activities. As guidance for the latter, the teachers are introduced to the IFAW-WTI AAE project, and how they can use AAE resources to instil love for nature and wildlife among their students.

An initiative of IFAW, AAE is the world’s largest animal-focused educational activity that sees participation of millions of students from more than 15 countries annually.

Under the AAE, activity packs (comprising a teaching guide, a documentary film and other supplements) on a selected theme are distributed to participating schools, free of cost. The coordinating teachers then follow the instructions in the teaching guide and conduct various activities involving their students.

Teachers with the AAE packs. Photo: Achintya Tripathi / IFAW-WTI

Two national level AAE competitions for students – ‘paint your world of animals’ and ‘million voices for animals’ are conducted as part of the programme. However, the teachers are encouraged to conduct innovative activities they deem suitable or of importance involving their students. Best entries of the student competition as well as schools that conduct most innovative or impactful activities will be awarded ‘Young Achiever Award’ and ‘Green Educator Award’ respectively.

IFAW-WTI is also conducting similar workshops in several rural areas of their reach. Over the past month, teachers’ workshops have been held in Gondia in central India, and Greater Manas region in Assam. The AAE team also addressed 400 teachers in two districts of Maharashtra in the National Green Corps teachers’ workshops coordinated by the Bharatiya Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research.