Ashima Sharma, 3rd September, 2014, Shimla
World Wildlife Federation India organized the 7th Edition of the Wild Wisdom -2014 Quiz, Asia’s Largest Wildlife Quiz in St Thomas School, Shimla here today. An impressive initiative by WWF-India in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which recognizes the quiz as a continuous and comprehensive evaluation activity. The Chief Guests for the Junior Quiz Competition was DFO Wildlife, Headquarters Delhi, Satpal Dhiman, and St Thomas School Principal, Vidhupriya Chakravarty, presided over for the Middle School Competition. The theme for 2014 Wild Wisdom was ‘Forest Biodiversity’.
Arti Gupta, head of the WWF-India, Shimla office introduced the concept of wild wisdom and said, “Wild Wisdom with a motto “Bodiversity is life, Uncover its mysteries”, focuses on forest biodiversity, that refers to all life forms found in forests, including trees, plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms and their interactive roles in nature. Forests release oxygen, store carbon, protect the surface soil and fresh water sources, attract rain fall as well as provide home to at least two thirds of all terrestrial species. The conservation of these forests to agricultural land and for development projects as well as climate change is destroying forest biodiversity at an alarming rate. Therefore, there is an urgent need to highlight the value and create awareness about the importance of forest biodiversity”.
She further informed that this year in addition to Middle level category, this quiz was also being organized for the juniors in schools for Classes 3rd to 5th and online for Classes 9 to 12. The national finals for the middle school level category would be held in New Delhi on 1st October, 2014 during the wildlife week. The top three teams will win a trip to Adventure Nation’s Camp Tusker near Rajaji National Park, in Shivalik Hills.
Atharva Sharma, a student from Auckland House Boys School and one of the best performers in the quiz said, “I am very happy to win today. It is very important for us to learn about the environment and ways to preserve it. I studied very hard for this quiz and learnt a lot about biodiversity in the process”. Another brilliant student from DAV School, Totu, Sukrit Rana said, “We tried our best to win the competition but lost by a very small margin. Our teacher is very happy by our performance. Next year we will try our level best to win”.
After the enthusiastic performance of the students in the quiz, Satpal Dhiman gave some important tips to the students about conserving environment and said, “We can participate in biodiversity conservation by increasing our knowledge of environmental issues, increasing our awareness of the impacts of biodiversity loss, and increasing support for government policies and actions that conserve our valuable ecosystems. Use of environmentally friendly products, disposing of hazardous material safely and adopting three R’s — recycle, reuse and reduce — are a few ways to conserve the environment. By playing our part to conserve responsibly we can become educators and role models as stewards of the environment by aiding in the recovery of species at risk and preventing other species from becoming at risk.
High School Students who wish to participate in this quiz competition may contact the WWF-India office and details are available on our website as well. Click the image to enlarge it to view the registration process and for further information.
Junior Section Category Winners
First — Auckland House Boys School; Atharva Sharma and Ujwal Singh Rajput
Second — DAV Public School Totu; Sukrit Rana and Rihan
Third — HIM Academy; Shivam Prakash and Arman Thakur
Consolation Prizes Winners
- DAV Public School, New Shimla; Varun Khachi and Utkarsh Sharma
- Dayanand Public School; Punit Chauhan and Mridul Sharma
- St Thomas Public School; Shaurya Singh Thakur and Devkriti
- Auckland House Girls School; Sanya Bali and Dia
Middle Section Category Winners
First — Dayanad Public School; Sumit Sharma and Akash Negi
Second — DAV Public School, New Shimla; Ishita Thakur and Jyotsna Kanwar
Third — Auckland House Boys School; Akshin Gupta and Aryan Rohal
Consolation Prize Winners
- DAV Public School, Totu; Nitik Shukla and Divyam Gautum
- HIM Academy; Saurabh Saklani and Yamini Sharma
- Auckland House Girls School; Ekampreet Kaur and Akriti Rawat