The positive of the dramatic operation that netted a leopard in a school earlier in the week is that schools will now start to focus on dispelling children’s fear of wild animals.
On Friday, officials of the Education and Forest Departments met to deliberate how best to coordinate in case of man-leopard conflict as well as to ensure panic and mayhem doesn’t follow the sighting of the animal. Among the decisions was to conduct a one-day workshop to educate school authorities. K.S. Sathyamurthy, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said these workshops will be conducted in a phased matter.
“To begin with, we will conduct workshop for around 50 schools (both private and government) in and around Whitefield and Varthur. If need be, we can do this in other areas as well,” he said. The intention, he said, is to prevent mass hysteria and sensitise children on man-animal conflict. Other steps include reviewing safety measures in schools, increasing the height of compound walls and better coordination between the departments.
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Forest officials also pointed to the need to include lessons on wildlife and animal behaviour in the curriculum as part of a proposed campaign to educate citizens on leopards.
The campaign is being designed on the lines of the one in Mumbai where, after a series of episodes involving leopards from Sanjay Gandhi National Park, authorities and NGOs swooped initiated the ‘Mumbaikars for Leopards’ campaign. The focus will be on the ability of leopards to co-exist with humans.
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“There is very little about animal behaviour in the curriculum. Following Sunday’s incident, this is the right time to start such a campaign in Bengaluru too,” said Dipika Bajpai, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Bengaluru Urban). Mr. Sathyamurthy concurs on the need for such a campaign in schools. “We have failed to educate students about animal behaviour and to not be scared of animals,” he says.