The Hindu : Kerala News : Cultivating a love for plants

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 27, 2006
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Kerala

Kerala

Cultivating a love for plants

Plant-literacy, if one may so coin a term, like `e-literacy' for instance, seems to have come of age.

This seems to be true in the light of concerted initiatives being taken by school authorities to educate students on plants and their properties. The Providence Higher Secondary School in Kozhikode has been in the forefront of this exercise for quite some time now.

Long before the Harita forest club was inaugurated at the school, the students had got up an impressive herbal garden, and listed the diverse plant species that were collected from Ayurvedic medicine manufacturers, and Social Forestry wing of the Forest Department.

Principal of the school Sister Jessina, who is also the Botany teacher, has been leading the effort that aims to familiarise students on the qualities and uses of medicinal plants and herbs.

The visit of Forest Minister Benoy Viswom to the school and his suggestions had inspired the students to take up the forest club activity in right earnest. The students are now in the process of collecting plants that match different Zodiac signs, and those believed to bring good fortune too.

Students are also engaged in efforts to recycle bio-wastes and set an example in decentralised waste management.

Maleeha Raghaviah

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