Nugegoda is a bustling and noisy town with plenty of traffic and busy commuters. It is one of the busiest towns. Yet only a few knows there is a little secret garden inside Sujatha Vidyalaya. It is a herbal garden and Green Thumbs features this garden by Sujatha Vidyalaya.
The little ones of the school are excited about this beautiful little garden. It is a project by grade one students, but students of other grades also help to maintain the herbal garden. One reason why this herbal garden is so precious is because studying plants is part of their curriculum at school.
Some of the herbs in the garden include Aloe Vera, Hops, Silky Indigo, Agallocha, Iramusu and Bengal. It is a well- known fact that herbs have a variety of uses including culinary and medicinal. Here the leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, root bark and inner bark can be used.Ruhansa Amarasekara says she finds joy when working in her herbal garden. “I really love this herbal garden and I go and see it every day. I visit it in the interval. It is a good project and it is relevant to our subject where we learn about plants. I really like working in this beautiful garden of ours. The other girls in our school are very interested in the herbal garden as well,” said Ruhansa. Senumi Sehansa, enthusiastically pointed out that one of the highlights of her day is certainly working in the herbal garden. “It is a very good project and we learn so much about herbal plants just by working in the garden. It is a project done by the grade one students. I visit the garden daily. I love the herbal garden because there is so much that we can learn from it. It is also fun working together with each other,” said Senumi By the expression on Udamsa Kariyawasam’s face one could instantly tell that this herbal garden means the world to her. “There is such a variety of herbal plants in this home garden of ours, and we learn a lot simply by working in the home garden and interacting with it. Every day I water the plants and it is something I really look forward to doing,” said Udamsa. Induni Dharmasiri felt that hands-on experience is far better than explanation. “There is so much we can learn from this herbal garden because it is directly related to our class work and what we study in the class. By working in this home garden we can better appreciate what we learn in the classroom. So this helps us with our book knowledge,” Induni explained. Viduni Wickramarathna pointed out that this kind of practical knowledge enables them to master what they learn within the four walls of the classroom. “One of the nicest things about our herbal garden is the fact that when working in the natural environment, theoretical knowledge in the classroom is easily understood. We are familiar with what we learn in class and perform better at the exams,” said Viduni. Primary School teacher, Awanthi Fernando, explained that this is a unique opportunity for the children to see and understand the natural environment. “The subject matter in the Grade 1 – 5 Curriculum directly relates to this herbal garden. Here they learn about the plants and the environment because of what they learn in the curriculum we decided to start this herbal garden. This is a grade one project done with their parents’ assistance. All the children visit this garden in the morning. They touch the plants and they study the plants. We started this because we felt the need for the curriculum to be accompanied with something tangible,” said Fernando. Fernando added that in this world of fast foods by opening this home garden, the parents, children and everyone around them get used to eating organic food at home. “Through children the society also benefits and learns, contributing to healthier lifestyles. The entire primary and the upper school students are involved in this project. All of them visit the plants. Earlier we had herbal plants all over the school so we thought of gathering it into one place so they can learn better. Our girls bring plants when they acquire them and place them in the herbal garden,” explained Fernando. Sectional Head of the English Medium classes, Supushpi Jayasundara commented on the medicinal value of the project. “The medicinal aspect made us start this herbal garden. This garden provides knowledge on medicine as well. The children show much interest. Even the parents participate enthusiastically. After work some parents come and water the plants. They have a roster to water the plants. They bring new plants as well. And we hope to continue this. For Environmental Related Studies we have so many lessons. This herbal garden helps to educate the kids on plants. When we do a lesson, we take the students to the herbal garden and show them. So they become familiar with the plants,” said Jayasundara.
Pictures by Sarath Peiris
Add new comment