Dugong Scholarship Program
Under the project’s outreach and awareness component, a unique participatory program, the Dugong Scholarship Scheme was initiated to engage local fisherfolk communities at grassroot level. This program targets school-going children of local communities (most of them are fisherfolk) and provides them with a scholarship of Rs. 500 / month for a period of two years to support their education. Through this program, we have identified a total of 288 school students at Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, through a competitive written examination followed by several participatory programs conducted at schools to raise awareness about Dugong and seagrass conservation. The students selected through the process have been identified as Dugong Ambassadors and have become part of an extensive Dugong Volunteer Network, alternatively known as Friends of Dugong network. This multi-pronged strategy involves school children in Dugong conservation awareness activities and integrates their families as part of the wider network of forest department frontline staff, divers, tourist boat operators and coastal village communities. This network provides us with information on dugong sightings/stranding as well as participates in outreach events for generating awareness in the areas of Dugong occurrence.
A total of 153 students were selected under this program in the Phase-I starting from July 2017. Out of these, 57 from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 53 from Tamil Nadu and 40 students were selected from Gujarat field sites.
Under the phase-II, 100 more students from Tamil Nadu, 46 students from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 22 students from Gujarat have been selected as Dugong Ambassadors in 2018- 2019.
Currently under Phase III, Total 100 students from Tamil Nadu, 87 students from Andaman and Nicobar Island and 79 students from Gujarat have been selected as Dugong Ambassadors in 2019-2020. Currently under Phase III, Total 100 students from Tamil Nadu, 87 students from Andaman and Nicobar Island and 80 students from Gujarat have been selected as Dugong Ambassadors in 2019-2020.
Under Phase III, a total of 100 students from Tamil Nadu, 87 students from Andaman and Nicobar Island, and 79 students from Gujarat have been selected as Dugong Ambassadors in 2019-2020.
Currently, under Phase IV, a total of 100 students from Tamil Nadu, 75 students from Andaman and Nicobar Island, and 66 students from Gujarat have been continued as Dugong Ambassadors in 2020-2021.
Phase - I
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Gujarat (482 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Tamil Nadu (904 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Andaman & Nicobar Islands (704 kb)
Phase - II
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Tamil Nadu (626 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Andaman & Nicobar Islands (509 kb)
- Download Dugong Scholarship Program (176 kb)
Phase - III
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Gujarat (869 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Tamil Nadu (.98 mb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Andaman & Nicobar Islands (1.08 mb)
Phase - IV
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Gujarat (201 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Tamil Nadu (237 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Andaman & Nicobar Islands (190 kb)
Phase - V
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Gujarat (523 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Tamil Nadu (729 kb)
- Download Dugong Ambassadors - Andaman & Nicobar Islands (191 kb)
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Last Updated: December 2, 2022