Saidevi Sanjeeviraja grew up with nature as her fixed companion within the Japanese Ghats in Tamil Nadu. Rising up close to the Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary, she was surrounded by peacocks and an endangered species of squirrel. Weekends typically concerned chook watching each on and off faculty grounds. This setting supplied her plentiful unstructured time in nature.
“Since my mom labored because the principal of my faculty, I had the liberty throughout summer time holidays to roam round 20 acres of land, typically in solitude. Such an surroundings nurtured my curiosity — I spent hours observing ant lions establishing tiny lure holes or watched tailor birds adeptly weaving cobwebs between leaves to create their houses,” she recollects in a dialog with The Higher India.
She would typically discover herself drawn again into the lap of nature even after her educational journey in finance and worldwide enterprise.
Reflecting again on these adolescence, she realised that shifting to Bengaluru as an grownup had created an enormous hole in how kids interacted with nature.
“Whereas the town boasts a wealth of inexperienced areas, with parks and lakes inside a few kilometres from practically each house, there’s a noticeable hole in how kids can work together with nature,” she says.
“Not like the unstructured freedom I loved, kids in Bengaluru expertise extra regimented interactions with nature, restricted to temporary, managed visits to parks. They’re typically directed by adults and sure by many restrictions, like not being allowed to run or sit in sure areas,” she provides.
Not like her personal childhood, the place hours could possibly be spent observing the intricate behaviour of ants or the architectural talents of tailor birds, the city kids had little or no unstructured playtime in pure environments.
Realising that structured and restricted park visits have been inflicting kids to overlook out on the identical experiences that had formed her, Saidevi determined to create’ Thicket Tales’. This organisation goals to bridge the hole between kids and nature in cities by making studying an fascinating journey.
“I needed to create a pure immersive expertise for kids the place they may discover like how I explored, in order that they’re unbiased amidst nature,” she provides.
Bringing nature into training
With Thicket Tales, Saidevi introduces center faculty college students, notably these from low-income households, to the wonders of nature by hands-on experiences like nature walks, storytelling, and environmental initiatives.
She has been remodeling the best way science and social science are taught by integrating them with nature.
The organisation operates throughout roughly 100 faculties and parks in Bengaluru, offering an 80-minute weekly session that permits kids to be taught by interacting with the surroundings. Every session goals to foster curiosity and encourage kids to find and be taught by self-directed exploration.
Initially met with skepticism, Saidevi’s strategy has step by step gained acceptance as its influence has develop into evident by movies and tangible outcomes.
The organisation consists of a proficient staff, together with a educated biologist, a science communicator, and an instructional director – all working collectively to make ecological training accessible and immersive.
The facility of Thicket Tales lies in its simplicity and influence. As kids discover the parks round Bengaluru, they have interaction in actions that problem their cognitive and sensory abilities.
“These walks are stuffed with alternatives for spontaneous studying — kids may determine a chook species by their calls or perceive pollination by watching bees at work. This hands-on strategy goes past bookish data. It deeply instills an appreciation for and understanding of nature,” she shares.
“For youngsters in low-income settings, these experiences develop into much more profound. Typically missing entry to extracurricular actions, these nature walks provide them a brand new world to discover and revel in,” she provides.
Saidevi notes how by actions like scavenger hunts or storytelling beneath timber, the youngsters develop important considering abilities and achieve empathy in the direction of all dwelling creatures.
One explicit occasion stands out in illustrating the transformative potential of Saidevi’s applications. A bunch of scholars labored on figuring out totally different species of butterflies over a sequence of classes. They got cameras to doc their findings and shared their observations with enthusiasm.
“One pupil, who initially confirmed little curiosity, grew fascinated by a typical Mormon butterfly he captured. His newfound curiosity propelled him to be taught extra about butterflies, main him to current his findings to his friends and fogeys with confidence,” she provides.
One other story is of how, throughout a dialogue on local weather change, a pupil realised the significance of the town’s inexperienced cowl. Utilizing maps from 1973 and 2011, college students have been ready to attract poignant connections between dwindling inexperienced areas and rising city temperatures.
“This train not solely bolstered their geographic abilities but in addition instilled a way of accountability to advocate for greener practices of their group,” she shares proudly.
Constructing a way forward for eco-conscious residents
Via these immersive programmes, kids should not simply passive learners however lively contributors and changemakers. They’re taught to determine environmental points inside their communities and inspired to plot options. Whether or not it’s a litter drawback in a park or lack of inexperienced areas, these younger minds are empowered to assume critically and compassionately.
Sonia, a category 8 pupil at Ashoka Shishu Vihara faculty of Bengaluru, shares with enthusiasm the essence of her studying journey. “I really like these nature courses,” she started, her phrases imbued with heat.
“Essentially the most stunning a part of this journey is experiencing all of it with my pals. My faculty gave me the great alternative to study nature, what results in local weather change, and the animals that inhabit our world,” she provides.
She paused, reflecting on the data she cherished. “I’ve even realized about various kinds of snakes, vegetation, and animals. It’s fascinating to find all these items along with pals.”
With a twinkle in her eye, she continues, “Saidevi aka (sister) doesn’t simply train us from books. She reveals us real-life examples, like footage on TV and samples of leaves and flowers. It’s wonderful! After we go to parks, she explains every thing we see, and now I may even determine a few of the timber and birds round my house and within the parks.”
Sonia’s ardour was evident, her phrases portray an image of a nurturing and provoking academic expertise that had really ignited her love for the pure world.
Saidevi’s imaginative and prescient is to domesticate a technology that’s not solely knowledgeable concerning the surroundings but in addition concerned in its preservation. Thicket Tales is greater than only a nature stroll — it’s a motion in the direction of rethinking how training can incorporate real-world points, fostering a technology that deeply respects their pure world.
“Recognising the success of those applications, native authorities our bodies like BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) have proven curiosity in incorporating our strategies into their faculty curriculums. There may be hope that such initiatives will increase, create ripples of change throughout extra faculties,” she provides.
By rekindling a baby’s innate curiosity and love for nature, she shouldn’t be solely enriching lives but in addition cultivating a extra conscientious and sustainable future for Bengaluru and past. Via nature, these kids be taught the interconnectedness of life – a lesson that lasts a lifetime.
Edited by Vidya Gowri; All photographs courtesy: Thicket Tales.
