‘Catch them young’ has been always the slogan of the educationists all over the world and that is what is happening at Chakkalakkal Higher Secondary School. In a move to bring the students closer to the plants and to instil the need to protect them, the clubs in the school have come up with a project to plant a herbal garden on their school campus.
The Eco Club, Agriculture Club and Campus Beautification Club of Chakkalakkal Higher Secondary School have taken up the mission with great zeal. By means of this project they aim to educate the students and teachers on the medicinal values of plants around them while paving way for their protection. Apart from planting herbal plants collected by the students, as part of ‘Oushada Varsham’, which is a yearlong project launched by the clubs, the newly planted and the trees and plants already on the campus that have medicinal values will be named. Their common and scientific names will be displayed on a display board.
Besides, creating awareness about the medicinal values of the herbs, information on a plant, highlighting its herbal properties and how it can be used as a medicine, will be imparted to the students and the teachers either through announcements or at school assemblies every week.“We already have around 40 medicinal plants in the campus and are planning to plant 101 more this academic year. The work for the herbal garden has begun with the planting of around 10 plants and the setting up of display boards.
The weekly programme to make students aware of their medicinal values will be initiated soon,” says project coordinator, Mohammed Jabir A P, a teacher.
“We aim to develop an interest among the students to know about the uses and values of each plant around us. Being unaware of the herbal values of plants including certain of them whom we regard as weeds, lead to their potential not being utilized to the fullest. The project aims to instil the need to protect them in the students even as awareness is created about their importance,” he adds.
Trees such as curry leaf, oudh, Indian gooseberry, cloves, cinnamon, tamarind, guava etc are already growing in the campus. Beside these trees new plants are being planted under the project. The school compound has been divided into small areas and each class has been given the charge of taking care of the plants in their designated area.
“By visiting a botanical garden near here, we have started collecting details on herbal plants. Herbal plants that are to be planted in school compound are also being identified based on the information that we have gathered,” points out Eco Club coordinator Sneha C R, a class X student of the school.
