Hilton Hamman
When Treverton School recently released four new zebras into its wildlife area, it was the culmination of more than 20 years of environmental work at the school and a day the pupils say they will never forget.
“That afternoon our lone zebra, which until then seemed to believe it was a horse, joined the herd,” says Janet Snow, environmental education teacher and coordinator at the school.
“To see a wild animal that for the past 18 months had identified with cattle, horses and blesbucks run to join its own species and be immediately accepted into the group was one of the most exhilarating sights the kids had ever seen. Within a week our zebra had mated and we are expecting her to give birth any day now.”
In 1969 Treverton, based in Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, was probably the first school in Southern Africa to introduce environmental education into its curriculum. Since then it has become ingrained into almost every facet of life at the institution.
“We’re involved in a number of projects,” says Snow. “This way pupils can engage in areas that suit them, rather than being forced into something in which they have no interest.
“We run both pupil-driven and teacher-driven projects, and are careful to ensure they do not overlap.”
In 1982 the school initiated and hosted the first environmental education conference in Southern Africa. About 200 delegates from 14 countries attended and saw the establishment of the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa, which has since grown into a huge organisation spanning most of the countries in the region.
“Early environmental education was more geared towards outdoor pursuits than formal learning,” says Snow, “but gradually this has changed.”
The school has a farm attached to it, which it used to lease out for cattle grazing. But in the mid-1990s, it was realised that the property presented unique education opportunities and the school decided to create a sanctuary for game species that once naturally occurred in the area.
At the time the grade sevens were involved in wetland studies as part of their normal school curriculum.
“The school undertook a trip to one of the Drakensberg wetlands,” explains Snow. “After lectures about the importance of such systems and their preservation, someone said: ‘But we have our own wetland, why are we not practising what we preach in our own backyard?’
“On our property we had a wetland the previous landowners drained so the land could be cultivated. We realised this presented a marvellous opportunity what better way to study and learn about wetlands than to rehabilitate our own?”
It was a project the pupils enthusiastically embraced. Weekends saw them, armed with gumboots and axes, knee-deep in mud, closing up drains and chopping out invasive brambles.
“As the wetland slowly restored, so birdlife began to increase and the next obvious step in the process was to answer the question: ‘Why don’t we introduce game into the area?'”
Fund-raising projects enabled the school to erect a game fence and buy 10 blesbuck that were released into what had become known as the Treverton Wildlife Area.
News of the programme spread and a local farmer soon called to say he had a lone zebra on his land that he’d had been told to shoot by local conservation authorities. The animal was darted and translocated to the Treverton Wildlife Area. Red hartebeests have also been bought and introduced.
Before being released, the animals are housed in bomas built by the pupils. “They used wood they cut from wattle trees that we are in the process of clearing,” Snow says.
“The pupils have also, at their own initiative, mapped the area with a GPS, removed old cattle fences, patrolled for snares and become involved in a dassie re-introduction programme during their school holidays. Dassies were trapped in areas where they are considered to be a problem and released into the wildlife area.”
Though Treverton is a relatively well-off school, it is sharing its resources and educational models with other schools that are not as well off. Bruntville, a poorer school in Mooi River, makes use of the wildlife area and helps clear the alien black wattles the pay-off is that Bruntville gets to sell the wood and keep the proceeds.
“We are in the process of creating a unique and wonderful natural resource,” says Snow, “and we want to share this with others. Our idea is to make the wildlife area available to other schools to use for field trips. Our pupils will then act as guides and hosts.”
Until fairly recently environmental education at the school was focused largely on the grade seven (standard five) pupils, but it was realised this would have to be broadened. As an increasing numbers of farms are being converted into game management areas, the Treverton Wildlife Area is helping to give farm children an insight into the management of these systems. Game management has been introduced as a compulsory subject in grade 11.
“We are not focusing on turning youngsters into game rangers or eco-warriors,” says Snow. “Our aim is to give them a balanced education, to show them the importance of their environment, and through environmental education help them develop skills used in other facets of their lives.
“We try to instil in them the idea of ‘thinking globally but acting locally’. Because they take ownership of the projects and have to run them themselves, they naturally learn leadership skills, management techniques, negotiation and conflict resolution.”
The Treverton Wildlife Area was a finalist in last year’s Green Trust Awards. This year the judges elevated the entry from the Schools Project category to Overall Winner (Established) in recognition of its precedent-setting history and the impact of its teaching models.
The school has formed alliances and swaps information with a range of organisations, including government agencies, NGOs, Environment On Line in Finland and Learning Through Landscapes in Britain.
There is no doubt environmental education has a huge impact on the lives of the pupils at Treverton. It has put fire in their bellies and has ignited a passion that has seen them confront situations they believe are damaging to their environment.
For example, off their own bat they recently tackled the school authorities when they realised the kitchen drain was leaching into the area’s natural water system.
“They formally presented the problem as well as the solution and now something is being done about it,” says Snow. That’s education. Southside Media