Internship ATREE ACCC 3/3

The time spent in this final leg was more of a mix with me also being present at Home, Philosophy Class and Trivandrum, so less time at ACCC.

But here’s a breakdown of what I did here nonetheless, since I have no current concrete plans to return back here (decent chance I might)

The “Understanding Our Biodiversity” workshop took place for 3 batches of Government HSS Teachers (2 days each batch).

Batch 1 and 3 - At ACCC and Surroundings

Batch 2 - At Dohnavur Fellowship and surroundings (Dohnavur Fellowship – Changing lives since 1901)

The teachers were taught about birding, trees (with connections to culture), and co-existing with snakes. They were taken to the field also.

Concern 1:

The intention of this program, was that by training teachers on Biodiversity, it would permeate into their classrooms as well.

In India, why teachers are walking away from the classroom | The Indian Express - Here’s an article that explains what challenges the govt school teachers face (albeit it’s written badly)

In short, they are expected to do administrative and other support tasks along with teaching, at the same time.

The government brings in a lot of schemes and rules (EMIS system data entry, increased focus on student absenteeism - some teachers even visit homes and conduct full inquiries if a student is absent)

These administrative tasks have to mandatorily be done by the teacher, so any extra training given to them (like this biodiversity workshop, takes a backseat). Priority List of the Teachers: Coach students for exam > Administrative Tasks >> Optional Value Additions (Counselling, Mental Health, Career Guidance, Biodiversity, Ethics)

If the govt requires them to do counselling or any other extra activities, they have no choice but to show that it has been done on paper no matter what the actual implementation is.

Until the Government figures out a way for a system that has proper separation of concerns, it means the only education that the government school students will be receiving is: how to pass exams.

Concern 2:

As part of the program, the teachers were taken to places to show examples of Links between Culture and Biodiversity (animal sculptures in temples, and places around them like herbs), unfortunately some refused to go even till the gate of the temple, rather choosing to sit down near the bus. Religious beliefs should not stop you from acquiring knowledge and it is concerning that this is done by people disseminating knowledge.

And FINALLY, i had the chance to go to Manjolai for a moth screening.

Since it is October and the rains are starting, a lot of herps are coming out, which means a lot have to be rescued, and a lot are roadkilled also. Saw Rock Python, Black Turtle, Kukri, Rat Snakes, Velvet Bugs, Fan-throated Lizards all come out.

Yeah, that’s it. Most of time in this 3rd part happened outside ACCC so this is the end!

There’s some really exciting projects going on here so Half Ciao!

Acknowledgments:

Ganesh M, Mathivanan M, Dr. Thanigaivel, Suba Mary, Fathima Hanna, Saravanan A, Thalavaipandi,