In a gloomy world filled with strife and conflict, gardens become a space
where peace and beauty reign. The colours and textures splashed on the ground
lures birds and butterflies. Students will find a quiet place to hang out… to
engage their senses.
For the poetic-minded, gardens can offer
visions of the invisible, grasp the
intangible and hear the inaudible…It’s a place to work with silence. According
to a British garden designer and artist, Gertrude Jekyll
(1843-1932), A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches
patience and careful watchfulness; it
teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.
Schools in Europe have found multiple benefits for school gardening. It has been found that gardens give scope
for children to learn about water
and energy cycles, the food chain, and the peculiar needs of individual species.
When children feel a sense of connection
to a certain species or individual plant, they will even have a reason to care about all the
forces that impact that plant’s future. Even teachers can benefit from
gardening in schools. If they so desire
they can transfer the gardening skills
to their own homes which would benefit their own health and the health of
their families.
Recently, Dr. Prabodhachandran Nair,
a former Professor of Linguistics, was invited
to a Workshop organized at the Regional Institute of Education (NCERT),
Mysore. He was deeply impressed by the
layout of the campus and particularly its garden. In a casual chat he narrated to me, his failure to
fulfil a
simple desire of his viz; to have a garden in the campus of the
institution where he served for decades:
The Professor asked a newly appointed gardener to clear the weeds
and shrubs and plant flower sprouting seedlings around the campus. Without
trepidation, the gardener told the
Professor: “Sir I come from an elite Nair family of North Malabar and we never
do such menial task”. The Professor adept at repartees quickly retorted “…well
then why don’t you take up the Asst.
Collector’s post now vacant in the District Collectorate?
It is a pity that despite the multiple
benefits of gardening, gardens are fast
disappearing from campuses in God’s Own
Country, Kerala. The ‘one child one plant’ scheme, introduced by the State
government recently is indeed commendable, but... what next?
Any comments or suggestions dear reader?
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