Ask Piraji Telange, 9, Akshay Kadam, 9, Sapna Gahire, 8 and Swati Nagtilak, 8 about conservation of wetlands in the city, and they will show in the most interesting way how to do it.
Four municipal school kids won prizes at WLI Asia inter-school competitionAsk Piraji Telange, 9, Akshay Kadam, 9, Sapna Gahire, 8 and Swati Nagtilak, 8 about conservation of wetlands in the city, and they will show in the most interesting way how to do it.
These four, who are children of daily-wage labourers, have learnt about a subject which is often debated on, in a playful manner at Mobile Crèche, where they spend their time after school when their parents are at work.
And by way of promoting such a noble cause, they have won prizes at the Wetland Link International (WLI) Asia inter-school competition on wetland conservation held in February in Mumbai. They will head for Hong Kong to receive the prizes on April 26.
About 8 municipal schools participated in the competition. The otherwise shy Piraji and Sapna burst out with enthusiasm the moment they are asked about wetland and mangroves.
Students of Sangam Nagar municipal school, both presented a puppet show on the importance of mangroves and the associated ecosystem in the competition. They were assisted by Akshay and Swati.
“We have visited the Sewree mudflats many times and understood the importance of mangroves and the ecosystem,” said Piraji.
The puppet show they present aims at creating awareness about wetlands among children. “When our school teacher came to know about the puppet show, we were asked to present it in the school. After our presentation, other students started visiting the wetlands. We now help create awareness among adults,” said Sapna.
Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust (CAT) said, “We teamed up with Mobile Crèche to participate in the competition as they selected to work on the impacts of urbanisation on wetlands. No one would be as close to the problem of urban development than these children.”
A select group of students as well as their teachers from the Wadala and Versova centres of the crèche were given orientation. Their work plan included field visits to the nearest mangrove areas to get hands on experience. Survey for seven weeks resulted in significant observations and a final report to summarise the project, Goenka added.
The winning team will get an opportunity to interact with children from various South Asian countries and exchange their thoughts and ideas.
a_ashwin@dnaindia.net 
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