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| Amrita Vidyalayam, Mysuru having kitchen garden |
A school garden is a powerful environmental education tool. Through gardening, students become responsible caretakers. They have an opportunity to engage in agricultural practices on a small scale, learning about the responsibilities and impacts of land cultivation. While they realize the sincerity and punctuality the garden demands in terms watering and other tending jobs of plants, they explore the web of interactions among the living and nonliving players that sustain life. By doing so, they develop a greater understanding of the natural world and the involvement of oneself in it.
For many children in the cities, a garden offers the only chance to get close to nature. Some lack access to gardening spaces because of their living situations while others have no exploratory free time in the outdoors due to the school’s focus on indoor activities. Teachers who engage in school gardening and use it as a teaching area have an upper hand in reaching out life sciences in a much more effective way than their colleagues who use a black board instead. Such teachers especially in urban environments have the privilege of giving their students the only opportunity they would have in their life to dig into the soil and watch a plant grow. They would also see the joy of their child enjoying a crop just as they enjoy their academic achievements.
Establishing a connection with nature at an early age is extremely important. Researchers discovered childhood experiences with nature are strongly linked to adult attitudes toward plants. They determined that participation in active gardening during childhood was the most important influence in explaining adult environmental attitudes and actions and concluded that even in urban areas where green spaces are limited, gardening programs for children can provide a strong enough connection to instill appreciation and respect for nature in adulthood.
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