In order to impart practical knowledge to students regarding agriculture and waste management, the Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), in Chandigarh’s Dhanas has set up a herbal garden on its premises.

Seema Rani, Principal of GMSSS, told: “In this herbal garden, the students learn the importance of cleanliness and greenery in their day-to-day life. They take the waste to compost in a pond specially made for composting and worming for plantation and agriculture.

“We are providing them a practical knowledge as well as theoretical knowledge as Chandigarh is going to present Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) an international students survey in 2022,” Rani said.

She also said that the New Education Policy also laid emphasis on the creativity and critical knowledge of the students. “We believe that education cannot be confined into four walls of the classroom. So we are teaching them the activities including waste management,” she added.
Citing the example of Uttarakhand tragedy, she said that if we neglect nature there can be more disasters ahead like Uttarakhand.
“A water tank has been dug in the green area to collect the wastewater which further moves for watering the plants and crops. This way the school has set an example for other private government schools. Even the students of other schools come here to learn the way of waste management and greenery.” Rani told.

The students were seen happy and interested to learn these farming activities and confirmed that they have learnt many things about cultivation, plantation, waste management, composting in the school.

“After coming to the school after the COVID-19 pandemic, the first activity we did here is farming, we learn cultivation, plantation, waste management, composting here,” a student Taranpreet Kaur said.