With sparrow population dwindling and survival facing challenges due to loss of nesting spaces in urbanised localities, a conservation initiative aims to reconnect children with little birds through workshops in government schools across the State.

Koodugal Trust, a voluntary organisation working towards sparrow conservation, is set to conduct environment awareness and nest-box-making workshops in 50 government schools across 10 districts from September.

The initiative, undertaken in partnership with the School Education Department, seeks to sensitise children about the significance of sparrow conservation and encourage them to create safe nesting spaces for the birds.

As part of the workshops, students would learn about sparrows’ habitat and challenges they face in urban environment. A key component of the programme would be the hands-on nest-box-making sessions. By involving students in making nest boxes, the trust plans to turn conservation awareness into an activity that can be taken back to their communities.

Though the trust has reached out to children in about 80 private schools across the State in the past five years, the trust has obtained approval to conduct the workshops for the first time in government schools. The workshops would be held in districts, including Erode, Coimbatore, Ranipet, Chennai, and Krishnagiri.

“Conserving these tiny birds is important as they help maintain the natural balance of ecosystem. We have distributed about 15,000 nest boxes in various parts of the State in the past five years,” said D. Ganeshan, convenor, Koodugal Trust.

A local estimate of the organisation has found that the house sparrow population has increased by 25% in north Chennai in the past five years and also spotted in other areas such as Velachery, Perumbakkam, and Tambaram, thanks to sustained next box seeding activities.

Students would also be encouraged to participate in sparrow census. The trust is also planning to launch a mobile application next month that would enable users to record bird calls and images, identify birds and build record of bird sightings. The application would help collate data on sparrow population, said Mr. Ganeshan.

Published - August 15, 2026 07:46 pm IST