https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Panna Tiger Reserve: Smart Classes for Children Living on its Fringes to Create Conservation Awareness

With the efforts of IFS officer Vejayanantha TR, the forest department of Panna Tiger Reserve has started an initiative of educating the children living in villages around the forest area.
Indian Masterminds Stories

The children of the villages on the fringes of Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh are now getting to study in smart classes in schools, where they are being imparted knowledge on a host of relevant subjects that include awareness about the need to conserve the environment. And this has been made possible by the forest department of Panna Tiger Reserve who has taken a unique step of providing good education facilities in the remote villages in and around Panna. To help the children understand lessons better, teachers now make use of digital screens where images are shown and explained in detail.

The Deputy Director of Panna Tiger Reserve, Mr. Vejayanantham TR, took Indian Masterminds through the stages of this smart class project and explained its objectives.

PROTECTING BUFFER ZONES

A tiger reserve consists of two areas, core and buffer. In the core area, there is no habitation and people are generally restricted from entering it. Only some percentage of core area are open for tourism. However, a buffer is just like any other forest where people can easily enter and even cattle can move around and feed. Mr. Vejayanantham said, “We try to protect these areas more compared to other forest areas in order for wildlife to have a buffer region between the core area and habitation. Without people’s support, it is very difficult for us to protect the wildlife in the buffer area as there is no restriction for the people and cattle to move around.”

tiger-panna-tiger-reserve
Protecting wildlife in the buffer zones

There are cases where cattle get attacked by wild animals in the buffer zone and sometimes there are attacks on humans as well. The agriculture land, too, gets destroyed by wildlife at times. “During such times, the villagers living around the Panna Tiger Reserve try their level best to not harm the wildlife and they directly call us and ask for compensation. Despite being illiterate, they are sensitive enough to protect the wildlife in the buffer area,” the officer said.

IFS officer Vejayanantham TR

INVOLVEMENT OF SAMITIS

In every forest division in India, there are Joint Forest Management Committees, which the forest department of Panna Tiger Reserve calls Eco-development Samitis. There are around 151 such samitis in this tiger reserve. Through these samitis, the forest department reaches out to people and provide benefits. Mr. Vejayanantham said, “There is a provision in the Joint Forest Management Committee that whatever revenue is generated through the help of eco-development samitis, we have to give one-third of the amount to these samitis so that they can carry on development work in their area.”

Last year, around 30 Samiti got their share from the safari money. Forest guards are also part of these samitis and they handhold Samiti members in prudent utilisation of these funds. Normally, this fund is utilized for road repair, painting of community halls, etc.

Acceptance by Samitis

Mr. Vejayanantham said, “During the Covid period, the students living in villages in the buffer area, which is remote and has no connectivity at all, suffered a lot as they could not get proper education. Therefore, this year we thought of investing the money that is given to the samitis on smart education.”

SMART CLASSES FOR CHILDREN

The forest department started conducting sessions by visiting each samiti and making them understand the initiative of spreading awareness among children through smart classes. The team, which included Mr. Vejayanantham, Field Director Uttam Kumar Singh and others, put in a lot of efforts to convince them and were successful. Within a month, the team put in place 17 smart classes in 17 government schools.

Smart classes for children in remote village of Panna Tiger Reserve

Mr. Vejayanantham said, “The response was overwhelming. And the way children are reacting and learning things quickly, the main objective of this initiative is being fulfilled.”

This is only the start as the forest department of Panna Tiger Reserve aims to reach out to all the 151 samitis and, with their cooperation, make the underprivileged children of the area digitally educated.


Indian Masterminds Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
CM Nitish Kumar with Chirag Paswan
Patna’s Chhath Puja Highlight: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Enjoys Kharna Prasad with Union Minister Chirag Paswan
Divyang Park CM Vishnu Sai
Chhattisgarh Government Advances Disability Welfare: CM Sai Celebrates Diwali with Divyang Children
sjvn vigilance
Vigilance Awareness Week 2025: SJVN Strengthens Integrity and Transparency Across Projects
IIIT Naya Raipur
AI Meets Administration in Chhattisgarh: IIIT Naya Raipur Empowers State Departments with Process Mining
Yogi Adityanath Chhath Puja
Chhath Mahaparva 2025: UP CM Yogi Adityanath Offers Prayers to Sun God, Greets Citizens Amid Grand Festivities in Lucknow
Yogi Government
CM Yogi Adityanath to Restore Heritage: Mustafabad to Be Renamed ‘Kabirdham’ in Honour of Saint Kabir
SJVN Ltd
SJVN Appoints Pulak Kumar Mukhopadhyay as Executive Director (Mechanical), Strengthening Thermal Power Operations
ECMS
ECMS: Centre Approves 7 Electronics Projects Worth ₹5,532 Crore — 5,100 Jobs, Big Push for ‘Make in India’
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
IAS Gokul S
Meet IAS Gokul S — The Officer Who Turned Disability into Determination | Video Interview 
WhatsApp Image 2025-10-23 at 10.40
Everybody Needs To Know What Is Transpiring Behind Closed Doors Of Courts
WhatsApp Image 2025-10-19 at 12.23
UPSC Journey Should Be Enjoyable, Not Cumbersome
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
IAS Gokul S
Meet IAS Gokul S — The Officer Who Turned Disability into Determination | Video Interview 
Visually impaired IAS officer Gokul S turned his challenges into change, empowering hundreds through...
Parmeshwar Chaudhary RAS
From Taunts to Triumph: How Farmer’s Son Parmeshwar Chaudhary Rose from Lab Assistant to SDM, Securing Rank 3 in RAS 2023
Parmeshwar, once taunted over his SI selection, has scripted a stunning success—securing Rank 3 in RAS...
IAS Rupal Rana UPSC
How Rupal Rana Cracked UPSC CSE 2023 with AIR 26 After Four Attempts
UPSC Topper Rupal Rana secured AIR 26 in 2023 after four attempts. Learn her preparation strategy, booklist,...
Social Media
Tenzin Yangki IPS Arunachal
Historic First: Who Is Tenzin Yangki, Arunachal Pradesh’s First Woman to Join IPS? Anand Mahindra Hails Her
She secured an impressive 545th rank in the prestigious UPSC Civil Services Examination - 2022.
IFS Parveen Kaswan
Heartbreak by the River: 15-Day-Old Elephant Calf Rejected by Mother, Rescued by IFS Parveen Kaswan and His Team
Jaldapra, West Bengal: In a moving incident that tugs at the heart, a 15-day-old elephant calf was rescued...
Ashwini Bhide IAS and Anand Mahindra
Who Is IAS Ashwini Bhide, Hailed as a Role Model for Mumbai Metro Transformation by Anand Mahindra?
From heritage to high-tech: Bhide’s leadership in Metro Line 3 earns public praise and admiration
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
CM Nitish Kumar with Chirag Paswan
Patna’s Chhath Puja Highlight: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Enjoys Kharna Prasad with Union Minister Chirag Paswan
Divyang Park CM Vishnu Sai
Chhattisgarh Government Advances Disability Welfare: CM Sai Celebrates Diwali with Divyang Children
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
IAS Gokul S
WhatsApp Image 2025-10-23 at 10.40
WhatsApp Image 2025-10-19 at 12.23
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT