13 cities battle out to become India’s topmost Wildlife Wizards
New Delhi, 6 October 2016: WWF-India and Discovery Kids in association with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today organised the national finals of Wild Wisdom Quiz 2016. The Wild Wisdom Quiz, in its ninth year now, was started in 2008 to build awareness in young minds about India’s rich natural biodiversity. The theme for this year’s quiz, in line with the theme for the World Wildlife Week 2016, is “Evolution and Biodiversity”, andaims toinculcate in the participantsa deeper understanding about the role of evolution and its linkage with biodiversity and the integral role it plays in maintaining and sustaining healthy ecosystems to support our survival. Events like this therefore go a long way in teaching children about the wonders of the natural world, the importance of conserving ecosystems and inculcating in them patterns of sustainable consumption.
The Wild Wisdom Quiz was conducted over two months across cities in India and had approximately 47000 registrations from 1100 schools. The national finals, starting with the Wild Wisdom Anthem, developed by The Sri Ram School, Aravalli choir had all the 28 city level winners from 13 cities battling it out for the title. The winners for the Wild Wisdom Quiz 2016 were Don Bosco School, Guwahatifollowed by The Shri Ram School, Moulsariand St. Anthony Senior Secondary School, Udaipur in the first and second runner-up spots respectively. The three teams will now head for a birding trip to Keoladeo National Park, Rajasthan to experience nature first-hand. All the top five teams received prizes from WWF-India, Puffin books and SONY. All 28 participants also received a wildlife safari based board game “Kadoo- The Big Game” from Mr. Diinesh Kumble, Founder and Chief Creator of Kaadoo.
The event also saw the launch of WWF-India’s Butterflies of Delhi, released by Dr. Surya Prakash, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University. . The publication, developed with expert advice from Dr. Prakash is a user-friendly reference for students to learn, identify and enjoy seeing butterflies in the natural world.Dr. Rohan Chakraborthy, renowned cartoonist and illustrator was also present at the event and spoke to the children about his personal experiences with wildlife and his inspiration to give up a career in dentistry and take up drawing for wildlife and conservation. This was followed by a session by Dr. Dipankar Ghosh, Director, Species and Landscape, WWF-India who enthralled the students with WWF India’s work in its various landscapes.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, WWF-India congratulated the participants and said “The Wild Wisdom Quiz provides children from across the country a platform to learn about our country’s rich biodiversity and helps build their interest in environmental issues. It is indeed a pleasure to see schools and parents encourage children to participate in such events and help them appreciate what the natural world has to offer. The increased participation of the Wild Wisdom Quiz over the years only reinforces our belief that children are the change leaders of tomorrow. We believe it is through their efforts that we can build a planet in which humans live in harmony with nature.”
Rajiv Bakshi, Vice President, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific said “We are proud to partner with WWF India for the Wild Wisdom Quiz 2016. I congratulate all the participants and winners of this year’s event.It is heartening to see young minds eager to learn about the rich natural heritage of our country. Our objective is to spread the message of a healthy and sustainable environment and encourage children to participate and take pride in our bio-diversity and this partnership achieves that goal.”
The Wild Wisdom Quiz also has an online version for senior school students, registrations for which are open till 15th October, 2016, at http://quiz.wwfindia.org/wwq/.