Butterfly gardens to come up in Kerala schools

The butterfly gardens will provide an engagement for school children who have been particularly affected by school closures brought by the COVID-19 pandemic

September 07, 2021 04:29 pm | Updated January 10, 2022 10:53 am IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Butterflies in the newly set up butterfly garden at Subhash Park which opened for public in April. File

Butterflies in the newly set up butterfly garden at Subhash Park which opened for public in April. File

After biodiversity gardens, the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, is setting up butterfly gardens in schools to impart practical lessons in biodiversity conservation.

With butterflies being good indicators of effects of climate change, the gardens will come up at a time when concerns over extreme weather patterns are magnifying.

The butterfly gardens will also provide an engagement for schoolchildren who have been particularly affected by school closures brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gardens will be arranged in select schools and even homes of interested students with the support of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi. The institute will provide know-how such as where and how to create the gardens and the plants needed to attract butterflies, both host plants that provide food source and larval plants.

Two teachers from schools that have registered online for setting up of the gardens will be selected as convener and joint convener, and given online training by the Samagra Shiksha. Butterfly clubs with a maximum of 50 students will be set up in those schools to streamline activities. The students who are club members will be given online training. Quizzes and online webinars too will be organised for them. Brochures and handbooks prepared by the Samagra Shiksha will be handed over. Students keen on setting up butterfly gardens at their houses will also be given support.

While Samagra will provide any support that is required, voluntary organisations that work in the field of butterfly studies and help in their conservation will also help schools set up the gardens under the Samagra’s umbrella.

The butterfly parks are expected to nurture students’ love for nature and teach them how to coexist with it. Students will also develop a better understanding of biodiversity concepts and get an opportunity to undertake their own research-like activities and present them as projects this year. The best projects will be given prizes, said Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, Project Director A.P. Kuttykrishnan.

The butterfly gardens will improve students’ academic knowledge, photography skills, and provide them joy, he believes.

Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, is taking up the butterfly gardens’ project as part of its Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan that encourages learning of Science and Mathematics and development of scientific temper.

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