GREEN BOOKS

to youth to take them towards nature
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is using books to bring children and youth closer to nature.

Rare and valuable wildlife books are being distributed in schools,colleges and social service organisations,under Project Wildlife Book Donation for Institutions.BNHS last week distributed its first collection worth Rs 96,650 among students of 10 municipal and government-aided schools. The books were sponsored by BNHS life member Dr Mrudula Thakkar. The aim is to create environmental awareness among the city’s youth.

“We launched the project on September 14,and our Conservation Education Centre (CEC) in Goregaon donated 10 sets of 13 books each to schools that can’t afford them. In our next step in October first week,we will cover 30 schools,colleges and NGOs and Dr Thakkar will donate nearly Rs 3 lakh,” said Sachin Chorge,education officer,CEC.

Subscriber Only Stories

View All

Premium

Nitish’s break-up with BJP: Bihar is set for Mandal 2.0 politics

Premium

Sajjid Chinoy: ‘The rupee is a better-performing currency against t...

Premium

Delhi Confidential: Amid Bihar drama, will Harivansh step down as Deputy ...

Premium

Constant sparring, communication gap, poaching shadow: Why Nitish quit NDA

Subscribe Now to get 66% OFF

According to Chorge,the books include updated versions of BNHS classic editions like the acclaimed Book of Indian Birds (Bharat Ke Pakshi-Hindi) by BNHS founder and famous ornithologist Dr Salim Ali. “Most books are updated,published in the last 10 years,” Chorge added.

A BNHS member said,“Most municipal and government aided schools cannot afford expensive books. Our collection will be of great value to youngsters of lower income families,especially secondary school and college students.”

Starting this week,as part of the project,the BNHS will send online forms to all educational and non-governmental institutes and select 30 deserving candidates. Similar projects will be held at uniform intervals,Chorge said.

BNHS spokesperson Atul Sathe said,“Good literature on wildlife and environment education provides effective tools for teachers to make nature education easier to understand and create a dynamic impact on young minds. Each set of books contains 13 different wildlife and environment education books to help students understand the subject better and implement sustainable living in daily life.”

The titles include the Book of Indian Butterflies and Common Indian Wild Flowers by Isaac Kihimkar,The Trees of Mumbai,The Book of Indian Animals and Birds of Sanjay Gandhi National Park by Sanjoy Monga. The Teacher’s Handbook (in English and Marathi),a CEC publication,will guide teachers to make environment and wildlife education an interactive subject. Schools that received their collections include Shailendra School,Dahisar; Arvind Gandabhir School,Jogeshwari;

Parle Tilak Vidyalaya,Vile Parle; Pradnya Bodhini School,Goregaon; A B Goregaonkar School,Goregaon; Niwara Vidyalaya,Dindoshi; Tridha Trust School,Vile Parle; Dr D B Kulkarni High School,Dadar; Maharashtra High School,Dadar and Holy Cross Nirmal School,Vasai. Responses are pouring in. Vinod Raut,principal of Shailendra Education Society,Dahisar,in an email to BNHS,said,“This will help teachers and students expand their knowledge of natural history.”