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| Sunday, 18 August 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Kindling elephant love in rural children As in everything, jumbo, the magnificent grey hulk of our swiftly-receding jungles, carries a dual-interpretation to the village child who virtually lives side by side with him and at times, is appalled by his traumatic rampaging. Some children look on him as a lovable giant and treasure him as the last of the fast-dwindling forest lords the expanding human settlements and development activity have made him. Others fear him and see him as a destroyer of human lives, homes and cultivations. The Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT) which embarked on a Schools Awareness Programme in chosen Districts in Sri Lanka where the human-elephant conflict continues to erupt, is reaping its just rewards of snuffing out jumbo-hate with seeds of human caring. "With the seminar organised by your BECT and held in our school, most of the children who harboured a dislike towards the elephant, began to understand the elephant and care for it," states a letter sent by G.M.M. Shanthasri, Dy/Principal of Anuradhapura Mahinda Maha Vidyalaya to BECT's Managing Trustee, Jayantha Jayawardene. Describing how the school's GCE O/L and A/L students learnt the reality of jumbo toils and travails from the programme's lectures, slide presentations, discussions and question-and-answer sessions, he goes on to ask: "The children of Rajarata farmers have developed an antagonism towards the elephants purely as a result of conflicts that abound in these areas. Should this be so?" He believes that by disseminating knowledge and awareness in the schools, BECT plays a marked role in erasing the jumbo-antagonism in rural children. BECT's specially designed curriculum has already covered a number of schools in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Matale with the aim of instilling in students the value of elephants and the need for their future conservation while being conscious of the destruction, the nuisance and the danger the mammals pose to people living in these areas. Hambantota, the other seriously-affected District, and many other schools await coverage, as and when BECT's finances permit. The children also get a video on the elephant of Sri Lanka that BECT has produced with Young Asia TV's assistance, and a Sinhala handout, both of which give them an idea of the elephant's biology, physiology, social behaviour and reproduction. BECT also tries to fill the dearth of wildlife, nature and environment-related books in Sinhala by gifting such books to the school libraries whenever a programme is held. Parallel to the schools programme, the villagers are shown the economic benefits of elephant conservation viz. tour guiding and sale of produce and handicrafts. The programme, run mainly by volunteer-lecturers Sarath Wijeratne, Sarath Wijesuriya, Srilal Miththapala, Kelum Manamendraarachchi, Shantha Jayaweera, Shereen Ismail, Nigel Billimoria and Jayantha Jayawardene, is financially assisted by Oregon Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo and the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society. The concept of schools' programme emerged at the first National Symposium on Elephant Management and Conservation held in 1998 in Colombo, attended by over 250 researchers, scientists, amateurs and students. Those who wish to assist the project fincially could contact Jayantha Jayawardena on Tel.94 1 694242 or 867902 or Fax.94 1 669782 or e-mail BECT at [email protected]. |
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