Delhi Zoo launches summer program to engage students in environmental conservation

On a Thursday morning in late May, the National Zoological Park in Delhi opened its doors to something larger than a typical school visit. The zoo's Education Centre became the staging ground for a two-week intensive program designed to pull young people into the work of environmental conservation—not as passive observers, but as participants in something that matters. By day's end, 39 students from 15 schools across the Delhi-NCR region had walked through the gates, the first wave of what would become a sustained effort to reshape how the next generation thinks about the natural world.

The numbers tell part of the story. Eight hundred and fifty-four students had registered for the Summer Vacation Programme 2026. From that pool, sixty were selected on a first-come, first-served basis. The program itself would run for two weeks, stretching to June 6, and would divide its participants into two slots of fifty each—twenty-five younger students from Classes VI through VIII, and twenty-five older ones from Classes IX through XII. The structure was deliberate: small enough to allow real engagement, large enough to create momentum.

The initiative sits within a larger framework. It's organized under Mission LiFE, an acronym for Lifestyle for Environment, and timed to align with World Environment Day, whose 2026 theme is "Inspired by Nature, For Climate, For Our Future." These aren't arbitrary connections. They signal that what happens at the zoo isn't isolated—it's part of a coordinated push to make environmental thinking central to how young people understand their responsibilities. Zoo Director Sanjeet Kumar, speaking to the inaugural cohort, emphasized this point: engaging young minds in biodiversity conservation and environmental stewardship requires more than lectures. It requires what he called innovative educational initiatives—the kind that stick because they're experienced, not just heard about.

On that first day, the students began with an orientation that laid out what they'd be doing over the coming weeks. Then they moved into the zoo itself, guided through the herbivore and carnivore enclosures, seeing the animals they'd been learning about in classrooms now living and breathing in front of them. Dr. Faiyaz A delivered a talk marking the International Day for Biological Diversity, bringing expert perspective to the moment. The combination—orientation, guided experience, expert voice—created a foundation.

What follows over the next thirteen days is a curriculum designed to reach students through multiple channels. There will be wildlife photography sessions, where students learn to see the animals around them with a photographer's eye. Art and craft activities will let them translate what they've learned into something they've made with their hands. Heritage walks will connect the zoo's history to the broader story of conservation in India. Competitions in slogan writing and poster-making will ask students to distill their understanding into language and image. Cleanliness awareness drives will move the conversation from abstract environmental principles to the concrete work of keeping spaces clean. Clay modeling, essay writing, exhibitions, and more expert talks will fill the remaining days.

What's notable is the breadth of entry points. Not every student will connect with wildlife photography. Not every one will excel at essay writing. But across fifteen different activities, the program creates multiple ways for a young person to find their angle into environmental thinking. A student who struggles with words might discover something through art. One who's shy in groups might find focus in photography. The program seems designed with the understanding that conservation isn't a single skill or interest—it's a way of being in the world that different people will approach differently.

The first day's attendance—39 students showing up, engaged enough to move through the zoo and listen to expert talks—suggests the program has traction. Whether these 39 become 60, and whether the 60 carry what they learn back into their schools and families, will determine whether this becomes a moment or a movement. For now, the zoo has created the conditions. The rest depends on what these young people do with what they find.