Solar fences keep elephants off Assam schools

Solar-powered fences protect schools in Assam from elephant intrusions, ensuring safety for students and wildlife in HEC zones.

Solar-powered fences are keeping elephants off schools in some human-animal conflict (HEC) zones in Assam.

The fear of running into elephants often made parents dissuade their children from attending classes at Kalioni Bagan Lower Primary School in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district. Damage caused to the school by herds on several occasions justified their dread.

“Wild elephants roam nearby even during the daytime, but a 400-metre-long solar fence installed around our school is preventing them from coming in. Without this fence, it would have been difficult to impart regular education to more than 90 students,” Rupkanta Duarah, the school’s head teacher, said.

Apart from 38 lower primary and 15 pre-primary students, the school has 38 children at the Anganwadi centre on its premises.

The fence was installed by Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation group, in August 2022. Mr. Duarah said it has withstood several attempts by the elephants to enter the school premises.

The school is off the route elephants use to move from a forest inside the Gutibari Tea Estate nearby to the Kalioni River. “As soon as the elephants appear during school hours, we switch on the solar fence’s energy station to keep them off the school premises and continue with the classes,” he said.

The Golaghat school is one of several schools in HEC areas where Aaranyak set up solar fences in consultation with the respective local administration, the school management committee, and local communities.