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District-level science congress held

BERHAMPUR: Sharp eyes of school students have linked reduction in number of frogs in rural areas to rise in diseases like malaria and chikungunya for which mosquitoes are vectors.

The students of Gopalkrushna High School of Subalia village in Ganjam district tried to depict this idea through a science project at the district-level competition for National Children’s Science Congress held in the city on Tuesday. The theme for this year’s science congress is bio-diversity. So, the projects submitted by students of various schools were related to keen observation of their surroundings.

Rakesh Panda, student of Gopalkrushna High School, said during the past few years the number of frogs near their village had got reduced due to rampant use of pesticides. And cases of chikungunya and malaria were also on the rise in the village. His teacher, Sankar Narayan Bej said breeding season of frogs coincides with the major breeding season of mosquitoes during monsoon. Mosquito larvae are a major food material for the young frogs.

Although till now no study has been done to link depletion of frogs to rise in malaria.

The other appreciated projects included conservation of traditional paddy breeds of Ganjam district by Lathi High School, conservation of peacocks through their coexistence with human habitat by Mohuda High School, conservation of dolphins in Chilika Lake by city DAV school, health-enriching herbal drinks produced from herbs by Medical campus high school of the city and rehabilitation project for stray digs of Berhampur by students of government girls’ high school of Berhampur. An interesting project came from a rural high school. Nimakhandi High School students had come up with a project to display how birds living near human habitats use discarded materials of humans to prepare their nests.

Six projects would be selected from each district for a State-level competition to be held in Bhubaneswar next month. Twenty six projects would be selected to represent the State in the National Children’s Science Congress to be held in Maharashtra this year.

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