FAU Professor Returns from Successful Professional Development, Community Engagement, and Conservation Activities in Nepal
Tuesday, Feb 13, 2024
Image: From left to right is Deputy Mayor of Thakurbaba, Prof. Bhagwanji, Education Curriculum Director, School Superintendent, and Support Service Directors.
With an audience representing over 25 countries, Prof. Bhagwanji presented a paper titled The Imperative of Environmental Education in School Curriculum and Teacher Preparation at the International Society for Applied Research held in Pokhara, Nepal, in December 2023. Following the details of the imperative, Prof. Bhagwanji delineated a set of research-based environmental education curriculum principles and provided applied possibilities for school curriculum from prekindergarten to secondary grades and teacher preparation programs. Prof. Bhagwanji also described several countries with established policies or national mandates related to environmental education in schools and teacher preparation programs, and discussed implications for nations, including considerations for financial and communication strategies.
Traveling to Western Nepal, Prof Bhagwanji later met with municipal and educational officials from the remote district of Thakurbaba. Serving a nine-ward wide area consisting of mostly low-income households, Prof. Bhagwanji collaborated with the officials in establishing high girl volleyball teams in each school ward and a college scholarship fund to support girls in pursuing studies at a university in Nepalgunj, about 90 kilometers away. Less than 10% of high school girls from this remote area attend higher education each year.
Prof. Bhagwanji presented volleyballs and other sports equipment to Thakurbaba’s two itinerant sport coaches. The itinerant coaches will assist in establishing girl volleyball teams at each high school in the district (municipality) and organize an annual district-wide girl high school volleyball competition.
Prof. Bhagwanji also met with officials of National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), Nepal’s leading non-profit research organization dedicated to conservation and informing public policy.
Prof. Bhagwanji with NTNC officials responsible for monitoring wildlife activities and promoting human-wildlife co-existence in the buffer or community zones surrounding Bardia National Park. Prof. Bhagwanji and the officials are in discussions about upgrading their field research laboratory.
Prof. Bhagwanji with Conservation Officer and Officer-in-Charge of Bardia National Park’s Conservation Program.
Field research meeting room adjacent to the laboratory at NTNC’s Bardia Program.
Laboratory area at NTNC’s Bardia Conservation Program
Prof. Bhagwanji completed his experiences and engagements in Nepal by collecting video evidence detailing male and female tiger interactions and not previously photographed bird of prey and butterfly at Bardia National Park. Prof. Bhagwanji will present a free webinar about the tigers on March 22, 2024:
The photographic evidence of the first-ever documented Elanus caeruleus (black shouldered or winged kite) and Licanidae argus butterfly at Bardia National Park have been given to a French naturalist and expert on Nepal birds and butterflies, adding to his 50 years+ collection and work, associated with the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris, France.
