The study examines the effectiveness and scalability of the Wild Shaale environmental education programme across three Indian states in the Western Ghats.
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A study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) on the Wild Shaale environmental education programme across three states in the Western Ghats region has revealed that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu students showed higher empathy and pro-wildlife attitudes. Goa students displayed stronger baseline environmental knowledge.
The research titled ‘Scaling environmental education across diverse socio-ecological contexts: Insights from the Wild Shaale program in India’ is authored by Krithi K. Karanth (CWS; Duke University), Sruthi Unnikrishnan (CWS), and Gabby Salazar (University of Florida).
The Wild Shaale programme was designed by CWS to bring interactive conservation learning to rural schools near wildlife reserves.
Between June 2022 and February 2023, the programme reached 7,381 students, aged 10 to 13, from 200 government schools in Goa, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
The research found that participation in Wild Shaale led to measurable learning gains, with students showing up to 34% higher environmental knowledge and 31% better awareness of safe practices around wildlife.
CWS said that correct answers on environmental knowledge questions rose by as much as 25% points, and students were two to three times more likely to respond correctly to safety questions after the programme.
“In Goa, for instance, the share of students correctly identifying what animals need to survive increased from 40% to 66%, while in Karnataka, correct safety responses nearly doubled from 24% to 49%. These improvements were consistent across genders, with equal participation of boys and girls,“ CWS said.
“It is very exciting to see that working with children generates such wonderful insights that can enable long-term conservation stewardship of India’s wildlife and wild places,” Dr. Karanth, lead author of the study said.
Published – December 12, 2025 10:59 pm IST
