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Connecting school communities in peri-urban Bengaluru to their local ecology and biodiversity

The Suttha Muttha project is a collaboration between the Nature Learning Team at Nature Conservation Foundation and the Fig Tree Learning Centre in Silvepura Village to take experiences and stories of local ecology and biodiversity to school communities in peri-urban Bengaluru. Suttha Muttha in  Kannada translates to  ‘our surroundings’.

 This work supported by a Bangalore Sustainability Forum small grant  will engage and collaborate with school communities and learning centres in and around Silvepura village to bring the natural world and ecological processes around them closer. Government schools in peri-urban Bengaluru are unique in their needs, opportunities and challenges. The school, classroom space and campuses are often small, with one or two rooms for the entire primary school and one teacher for 40 students across classes I-V. Few  schools are fortunate  to have access to a tree or two within or just outside the school compound. Learning in these schools is disconnected with the rapidly changing neighbouring landscapes of farmlands, gardens and fruit orchards. Many students come from families that  have migrated from other parts of India to Bengaluru in search of work, making both the Kannada language and the local landscape something they have to contend with and acclimatise to.