Suttha Muttha

The Suttha Muttha project will take experiences and stories of local ecology and biodiversity to back to school.

‘Unfortunately the children of today – who will be the grown-ups of tomorrow – are likely to have very different memories of their childhood and the outdoors. Children increasingly grow up disconnected from and fearful and suspicious of the natural world that they are part off.’

By making meaning of serendipitous encounters with myriad creatures that visit their schools the project hopes to facilitate deeper connections for students with their immediate natural world. Jane Sahi, Founder Fig Tree learning center and Roshni Ravi, Nature conservation foundation are going to design and create locally relevant and accessible teaching-learning material, curate stories, songs and sayings in consultation with parents, teachers and students. They will develop and offer immersive nature education and nature learning workshops for students and teachers. Material emerging from this will be made available freely under the creative commons understanding.

Please reach out to Jane or Roshni if you are interested in this and if you would like to use any of the ideas and material in a school you know.

Project Start Date: May 2020

Contact:
Roshni Ravi, roshniravi@ncf-india.org
Vena Kapoor, vena@ncf-india.org
Jane Helen Sahi, janehelensahi@gmail.com

Status Report & Updates:

Interim Report: July 2022

Publications based on the Project:
Connecting Learning to the Natural World

Suttha Muttha Plant poster on the Giant Milkweed was featured in an article written by Nature Classrooms, published in issue 7 of iWonder magazine [Teaching as if the Earth Matters] that is brought out by Azim Premji University.

Newspaper Articles
Teach ‘Em Young: Appreciating Biodiversity Through Our Classrooms (April 2022, The Bastion)

Suttha Muttha Project is introducing children to local biodiversity (February 2021, The New Indian Express’ Edex Live)

All the posters and worksheets below are available to download and use for free. You can download them in your preferred language on the Nature Classrooms website. You can reach out to Roshni or Jane with your thoughts and queries on the resources.

Project update: December 2021

Poster series highlighting 3 common plants- Giant Milkweed, Singapore Cherry and Neem.

All of these are seen around Silvepura and Tarabanahalli villages where the two teams work to help schools connect with nearby nature. The posters have been designed to provide students and teachers with opportunities to have conversations about plants they see every day, notice the creatures that visit them, and link them to concepts they learn in the classroom.

Have you spotted these trees in your neighborhood? What stories and memories of them can you recall? Share your observations, photos, drawings with us at edu@ncf-india.org

The posters are currently available in Kannada and English and we look forward to making them available in more languages soon. You can download, print (designed for A2 printing), and display these posters at home, in schools, or even your workplace.