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Suryamashi a std 8th student from B.V & B.N school, Jandrapet,
Praksham prepared an ointment from the Kasinda plant that he
grew in his school herbal garden.
He and D.Chiranjeevi, B.Vinay, N.Umamaheswari, G.Maheshwari,
B.Latha, P.Madhu, A.Chinni, G.Sujatha of 6th standard maintain
a register of herbs in school.
Students of Gangavarm School have got in touch with a local
Ayurvedic medical stores to supply them with plant products for
the preparation of medicines.
Mr.Mallaiah, Mr.Dastagiri and Mr.John, the village elders of
Inkollu, Prakasam districts regularly interact with school
students on the maintenance of the herbal garden.
These are some of the ongoing efforts under the herbal
garden project running successfully in 101 schools of
Andhra Pradesh. The programme started in 2008 with an
objective to sensitise school students on the importance
of medicinal plants in daily life and to involve local
communities in developing herbal gardens. Centre for
Environment Education (CEE) with support from National
Medicinal Plants Board and AP Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants Board (AMAPB) is running the programme in all 23
districts of the state. The project operates with CEE’s
existing set up of EESAP clusters, i.e., school and NGO
linkages. The schools were selected on the basis of:
• Willingness of schools to develop a herbal garden
• Presence of the compound wall and water facility
throughout the year
• Availability of about 1000 sq. of land in the school for
developing herbal gardens and owned by the school.
An NGO was involved in each district to provide assistance
for developing the herbal gardens and facilitate the
project.
The process
Orientation workshop to NGOs
CEE began the programme with a two-day orientation
workshop for NGO representatives to the concept of herbal
garden project and its management. It also focussed on
the content of the teachers’ manual developed specifically for the project. Participants were provided with seeds
of ten plant species five each from CEE and the forest
department. This team was now ready to orient school
teachers further on the implementation of the project.
Teacher training programme
The representatives from 12 NGOs after going back to
their respective regions organised a training programme
for the selected teachers of their cluster. The teachers
were introduced to the project, implementation process
and explained about the expected outcomes. During the
programme, the participants were provided with a set of
teachers manual and 10 different herbal plants (saplings
/ seeds).
As part of the training programme, participatory garden
planning exercises were performed in school with the
involvement of the community. The planning exercise
dealt with the entire range of activities like initiation
to the maintenance and management. The garden
development was initiated on the same day of the training
with the participation of the community, teachers and the
students.
Once the NGO and teachers training was completed, the NGO
representative from each district, the school teachers and
students along with the community members got involved
in clearing and preparing the land for cultivation.
Preparations for gardens and taking care of saplings
A single stretch of land was preferred for the gardens.
In some places schools also managed with small patches
based on availability of land. Also it was ensured in the
beginning that the land used for the garden was not a
play ground and was not planned for any other use like
sanitation or construction.
In some areas the community helped by lending their
tractors and bullock carts for land preparation while in
other areas the students were allowed to use the public
tank for watering the plants. The partner NGOs collaborated
with the forest dept nursery to procure saplings for the
gardens. The partners also encouraged organic farming by
providing the vermi compost to all the project schools.
Nursery beds were prepared and fencing was done with
naturally available material like thorny bushes, dry sticks
etc. Seeds were sown in these beds. The beds were prepared
keeping in mind both annual / biannual herbal plants like
Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu and Ashwagandha. Special care
was required for plants like tulsi, whose seeds were sown
not more than 2 inches deep and approximately after 45
days of sowing the seeds, saplings were transplanted.
Care was taken to transplant Usiri, Neredu, Velaga and
Vepa saplings at a distance of 4 mts and at a depth of 2 ½ -
3 ft. Suckers like Aloe vera were transplanted at a distance
of 45-90 cms. Big trees were planted at a distance of 4
meters with small herbs in between.
Garden management
One teacher from each school was appointed as in-charge
for the development of herbal garden. The head master /
principal acted as the chairperson. The in-charge teacher,
head master and the students formed a committee to
manage the gardens. The teacher, a few students and
other members of the committee looked after aspects
like fencing, protection from pests, insects and animals,
irrigation, harvesting, storage and using the yield. In some
schools, each student was given responsibility of one
plant.
Monitoring visits to schools
Monitoring visits to each school were undertaken by CEE to
provide any required inputs to the teachers and students
in developing and maintaining the gardens. Teachers and
students got an opportunity to share their technical and
financial problems during these visits.
Teacher’s manual on developing Herbal gardens
In order to familiarise the teachers with the setting up
of and nurturing the herbal plants, a guidebook was
developed by CEE. The teachers’ manual comprised of
the information on commonly available medicinal plants
like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu, Ashwagandha, Neem etc.,
along with technical details such as the distance to
be maintained while transplanting / sowing, irrigation
methods, pest protection, harvesting and usage of the
plants as medicines. The manual was developed to help:
• Teachers and students to study and acquire basic
knowledge of medicinal plants available locally.
• Learn to understand and protect plants in their original
habitat without being exploited.
• Help students recognise at least 10 species of herbal
plants, their useful parts and use.
Once the gardens were established, students nurtured and
cared for the plants. Information boards were prepared
by students giving details on the plant name, parts used
and its medicinal use. They learnt about plant cycles,
their fruiting and flowering seasons, medicinal parts being
used, their use etc. Students got an opportunity to learn
and understand about local medicinal plants from the
teachers, elders, NGO representatives and their friends. To
share these year-long learnings with the wider community
herbal garden event was organised at the year end.
The event was an opportunity to display products/plants
and disseminate the knowledge and skills gained by the
students to others. There was a sharing of experiences
and knowledge where the suggestions and opinions of the
visitors were taken into consideration for the betterment
of the gardens and proper usage of herbal plants.
Looking at the success of the herbal gardens, the AP
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board approached CEE
to focus on Amla plantation in these schools and spread
awareness on medicinal values and benefits of the plant.
Each school has been given about 50 saplings to grow on
their campus. The plantation activity is currently underway
at the schools.
Srinivas Gorantla |
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| The medicinal plants were planted in free spaces available on the
school campus. |
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Appropriate distance was maintained between two saplings
depending on the plant type in order to help it grow |
For more information contact:
Centre for Environment Education
Andhra Pradesh State Office
6-3-348/2, I Floor, Dwarakapuri colony,
Panjagutta, Hyderabad – 500 482
Phone: (040) 23352596 Fax: (040) 23352586
E-mail: ceeandhrapradesh@ceeindia.org
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