Our monthly marine education program aims to create awareness of local marine and coastal habitats among youths. So, one-day events are the follow-up of our school visits, and we invite the school students to visit our centre for expanding their consciousness and awareness of how beautiful our oceans, local plants and animals are. The schools are randomly selected based on their availability every month.  About 60 - 70 students visit each school every month.  We give priority to Government schools.  The selected schools usually arrive at our centre at 9 am and return at 3 pm.

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It all starts with a demo of SCUBA diving in a tank where the kids are allowed to handle the buttons on BCD and the regulator from our diver creating a sense of curiosity and excitement among them. Now, they go for a walk with our staff to see the local mangroves and learn about the adaptations of mangrove roots and leaves and how the mangroves are beneficial for the productivity of crabs, fish and shrimps. Then they walk further to the beach which is usually covered by washed-off seagrasses and shells discarded by fishers.  As the children collect a variety of shells and seagrass and our staff explains to them about the underwater seagrass ecosystem by drawing it in the sand with kids. 

Upon returning, the children have tea and snacks, followed by 45 minutes of presentation showing local habitats using photos and videos captured by OMCAR.  Then, they will be provided with a wholesome lunch – a free lunch is provided by OMCAR to all or sometimes they get their lunch packed (mostly children from private schools).  Post lunch they go to the museum to learn about the vernacular and English names of the shells, fishes and crabs.  They are also encouraged to make drawings of their shells collected from the beach or of what they learnt that day. The students can also cooks eggs in solar cookers, use eco-friendly paddle pumps and plant seedlings in our nursery.  Finally, after a conclusion meeting and a round of applause for everyone, they take a group photo and return to their school.

 
Our centre is located in a very peaceful scenario, which is apt for learning about the  sea.