By Muriel KakaniAnnadhana Project

In traditional communities, children have

always learned naturally from their

grandparents, parents or elder siblings by

accompanying them to the market, to the

jungle, to the river, or to the fields.

While helping with daily tasks of sowing, harvesting,

hunting, food gathering, thatching, attending cattle and so

on, the community’ s traditional knowledge is passed on.

That is also EDUCATION!! Within the community, children

acquire important EXPERTISE, KNOW-HOW ABOUT:

BIODIVERSITY

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

AGRICULTURE

WATER CONSERVATION

HOUSE CONSTRUCTION

CRAFTS

UNFORTUNATELY, when children go to

school, it takes away much of the time

they would have otherwise spent in

gaining valuable knowledge and useful

skills for living a sustainable life...

With the new generation getting educated in

modern schools that follow a universal curriculum

that is essentially divorced, disconnected from life,

children are getting isolated from their land-based

cultures and from nature… With the spread of

Western development and modern education, we

are erasing centuries of accumulated knowledge.

Traditional ecological knowledge is

today on the verge of getting lost

forever. It is surviving only in the

memory of the elders.

It is therefore of utmost importance to make children

aware of the significance and relevance of traditional

practices and skills and thereby, instill a sense of pride and

confidence about it.

Traditional Knowledge isn’t primitive!!

Indigenous knowledge is the answer to many

environmental problems the world is facing today.

Scientists and environmentalists… are increasingly

recognizing indigenous people's traditional ecological

knowledge as a potential source of ideas for new

models of environmental conservation and sustainable

development. Preserving indigenous knowledge is

therefore necessary and absolutely essential for survival

of the planet.

To preserve Traditional Knowledge and

create a sustainable world, we have to

make sure that the new generation, the

next potential keepers of Traditional

Knowledge and Biodiversity, take pride

in the traditional know-how and skills

inherited from their elders.

It is with that objective that

Annadhana Book Project

presents:

Reviving India’s Traditional Knowledge and Wisdom.

Giving voice to the wisdom of India’s

traditional people by encouraging their

children to write and publish their own

environmental stories.