Students introduced to wonders of Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary

NAMCHI, 23 April: In a welcome move, efforts are underway to familiarise school students with the natural wealth of the State by taking them to nature reserves instead of limiting the introduction to lectures inside classrooms. Towards this end, two groups of students have been taken on excursions to the Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West Sikkim. While a 150-strong group from Govt. Secondary School Ribdi [West Sikkim] was at Barsey on 18 April, today, 31 students from Government Secondary School Rong [South Sikkim] enjoyed an outing there.
Today’s excursion was organised by the Land Use and Environment Division [South] of the Forest Department and included 22 class X students and 9 class toppers from classes V to IX.
The excursion was as much to familiarise students with Sikkim’s flora and fauna as it was to recognise their academic excellence with some co-curricular engagements, and was initiated by the Joint Director, Land Use and Environment South, Uday Gurung.
As he explains, the excursion aims to make students more aware of the bounties of nature in Sikkim and also ingrain the concept of clean and green Sikkim in their minds. During his interaction with the students, he also briefed them on the do’s and don’ts of being in the wild.
The excursion was flagged off by chairman, Sikkim Tea Board, Gagan Rai, from the Namchi Indoor Stadium today.
Last Wednesday, students from Govt. Secondary School Ribdi were on a daylong excursion-cum-educational tour at Barsey for a project work. They were accompanied by their Headmaster Santosh Kr. Chettri, teachers. The 150 students were from classes VI to X.
At Barsey, they were divided into ten groups of fifteen students each and assigned to collect plastic and biodegradable waste from the sanctuary.
A huge amount of garbage [comprising primarily of plastic bottles, snack packets, tobacco packets, sweet wrappers, liquor bottles] were hauled out of the sanctuary by the students. As part of their project work, the students made a detailed inventory of the waste collected and made noted on the potential hazard of such waste. The collected garbage was destroyed outside the Sanctuary by the students. Shocked by the amount of plastic waste recovered from the rhododendron sanctuary, the team has expressed serious concern over the irresponsible conduct of visitors to the reserve and called for a strict ban on littering and entry of plastic materials to the sanctuary.