A girls' higher secondary school in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district has become the first educational institution in the UT to display a biodiversity wall that makes learning Biology easy and perceptible for the students. Two teachers, Dr Raouf Hamzah and Manzoor Javaid — the former is from the girls' higher secondary school in Verinag and the latter is from the higher secondary school in Deethu, both in Anantnag district — have designed this unique biodiversity wall that showcases diversity in Botany and Zoology to make learning easy and innovative for students. Tasaduq Hussain Mir, Director School Education, Kashmir inaugurated the biodiversity wall at the school on November 2.
"Ever since back-to-back lockdowns hit Kashmir due to the pandemic, my colleague Dr Raouf Hamzah and I have taken the initiative to motivate young children towards their studies through innovative methods," said Manzoor. Raouf claims that the biodiversity wall, with its unique design, is the first of its kind in the UT with around 90 per cent animal and plant specimens. "At present, we have around 16 galleries in the wall and these are helping the students to get clear concepts of the subjects they learn. We have been approached by other schools so that similar biodiversity walls are designed for the benefit of students of those schools," said Raouf.
Manzoor is also the nodal officer for the school herbal garden scheme in the UT. "We have executed the idea of the biodiversity wall at the government girls' higher secondary school in Verinag and the design will help students get clear ideas about their Botany and Zoology lessons," he said. The designers said that the specimens of animals and plants displayed have been collected without damaging any living animals or plants. "These specimens are collected from dead plants and animals to ensure that no damage is caused to the existing biodiversity," the designers said.
