A CORRESPONDENT
BISWANATH CHARIALI: Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) India team conducted two teachers' training workshops at Nature Discovery Centre, Biswanath Ghat and Halem Chariali LP School recently.
The workshops were aimed at increasing awareness on threats and conservation of freshwater turtles and tortoises among school teachers and ways to introduce conservation learning into the school curriculum. As a part of TSA's cluster-level education programme, teachers from 30 schools - 16 from Biswanath block and 14 from Chaiduar block participated in the event. The training included various modules on turtle identification, their importance and interactive methods to involve students and enhance their learning. As a part of long-term programme, TSA team will conduct follow-up visits to the schools and host student interactions to know their views on conservation and effectiveness of conservation learning modules.
A turtle fest as a part of final phase of training process will invite selected students from these 30 schools at Nature Discovery Centre to perform or present their thoughts on turtle conservation. TSA India program, active along the Northern Bank Landscape of Brahmaputra River, is striving to conserve some of the unique and endangered turtles and tortoises in the region through participatory approach. This initiative has been supported by Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong and Prince Bernard Nature Fund in association with Wildlife Conservation Society India.
Inspector of Schools, Sonitpur, Prabhat Kumar Das enthusiastically supported this unique concept and the training programme. BEEO of both the blocks, namely Karuna Bhatta of Biswanath Block and Dhiraj Kumar Taid of Chaiduar Block, supervised and helped to build the bridge among all the schools.