The Guwahati zoo. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

July 29: When students walk into the state zoo from next month, they will be entering a “classroom” designed to groom future wildlife conservators through simple lessons in management and leadership qualities.

The Assam State Zoo, in collaboration with a private management service company, has chalked out a project dubbed “rhino success camp” for inculcating self-development traits in schoolchildren to help them become future wildlife conservators. The programme will start in the first half of August.

“Going to the zoo and just watching the animals is not enough. Children must be motivated to spread the message of conservation through a hands-on approach,” divisional forest officer of Assam State Zoo, Narayan Mahanta, said.

The heads of schools, which have been included in the list drawn up for the project, welcomed the move as an “innovative idea”.

Headmaster of Don Bosco School, Joseph Thelekkatt, said students of his school “will be happy to be involved in such a project”.

“We already have a similar project for our students under which they are taken to the zoo once every year and then asked to write a detailed report on specific animals,” he added.

Principal of Hindustani Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sudipa Bhowmick, echoed the views saying such programmes are required these days to help students bring out their best through different ways. “Mere studies are not enough today. It would be an interesting approach,” Bhowmick said.

A teacher of Maria Public School said they were looking forward to the programme as “students need to learn and unwind at the same time. Moreover, they will be learning so much about environment and natural heritage”.

Mahanta said schools would be encouraged to send batches of 50 students initially and the number of days can be increased depending on how successful the programme is. The zoo hopes to attract more than 2,000 students from schools.

Soumen Dey, who heads the northeastern cell of centre of environment education, said project was a “good concept. Participating in these programmes can expand the students’ horizons,” he added.

Mahanta said the camp, to be held on a particular day of the week, will have classes on personality, leadership and team building. He added that the participants would be encouraged to come up with ideas and experiences “so that they have a general idea of what should be the role of a leader and how personality and positive mental attitude affects team-building”.

The final leg of the project will be “success is fun” seminars to motivate students to become successful, highlighting the fact that it is always better to work for success rather worry about failures.

The management services company, Raj Technical and Management Services, is helping the zoo market the scheme and provide lessons on self-development.

S. Raj of the firm said the members of the group would meet school heads once the institutes reopen on August 1 after the summer vacations. He said they would charge only a minimal amount to cover their expenses, which include study materials and entry fees. “It is a unique concept and the schools would definitely come forward,” Raj added.