Medicinal and aromatic plants are invaluable biological resources, closely associated with healthcare traditions and they are integral part of traditional health care systems in asia such as ayurvedic, yunani, sidha and tibetan medicine. Medicinal and aromatic plants are equally a part of modern alip. Aic medicine extracts from plants have been used in the treatment of several diseases, including cancer. Examples include taxel from taxis, species quine from syona species in the himalayan region.
Medicinal and aromatic plants are not just an important contribution to everyday health for most rural mountain communities, their gathering and cultivation are also a means of livelihood. Unfortunately, deforestation, degradation of natural habitats and excessive harvesting and collection of wild plants has put several of the himalayan medicinal plants at risk risk. Some widely marketed and high priced medicinal plants are already endangered foreign speech fore for spech forign spech for spech.
At the same time, the rich, traditional and indigenous knowledge concerning the use of these plants is gradually weakening as culture change and traditions erode. It is crucial to raise the young generation’s awareness of the significance of these vital resources and the value of their conservation. Some 15 schools in katmandu valley have made gardens in their schools and it has been an enriching experience for them. I’m feeling really good because it was a learning experience.
I wish I had gone to a school that taught me to take care of herbs like this. The promoting herbal gardens in schools initiative was launched on the occasion of the international year of biodiversity. In 2010. It involves students in starting herbal gardens in their schools.
This initiative of school herbal gardens was launched with an intention to bring the students and children uh uh to understand uh the importance of the medicinal plants occurring in the region and also their uses and uh how to revive the traditional knowledge associated with the medicinal plants. The best part of this initiative is that the students learn about the medicinal plants and their users in a more practical way and just enjoy about learning about plants. The initiative has made the students, teachers and families more aware of the plants around them and more curious about their various us in traditional medicine.
Working in the herb garden is not only maintenance of of a garden they’ve learned a lot through the process. Even their parents are so much satisfied with it. When we started this garden, we had a great support from our family.
The initiative motivated students to make a herbal garden in school to grow different types of medicinal plants in the garden to learn the names and uses of medicinal plants. After the plantation here and information that I collected from the internet and studied from books, I get to know the plants, and now I can almost tell all the plants of my house this one here. Aloe vera is good for um cuts and burns, and it’s also good for um, wrinkles and skin.
This one mint here is uh, it’s good for eating. It’s normally used in chewing, gums and candies to explore the scientific and traditional knowledge associated with them. So far. I know about 40 45 species, they have got to learn scientific names as well as the plants name and also they know the culinary uses of it.
Medicinal uses of it to make identification tags and plant profiles to learn about the conservation of the plant resources. It’s a part of our conservation work. We are growing these here so that some of these herbs will be there for the future generations.
The school herbal garden is an easy project. To start, I feel great to have a herbal garden in our school. It can be made part of the school’s extracurricular activities can be linked to the curriculum or can be integrated in national level, schoolbased environmental programs.
So I think it has done a lot of uh beneficial thing to their studies as well, and I have even allocated the marks in my subject for their performance and for their work in the herbal garden. We have learned many extra things from this garden. They take it as the the platform where they get knowledge and ideas of importance and uses of her plans. All that is needed is supportive.
School management we’re very enthusiastic in fact, and then we wanted to start immediately. We were excited to be a part of this project, a small space within the school premises, where students can design and develop their garden a set of garden tools to help make and maintain the garden a list of medicinal plant species to choose from and gather for. Granting dedicated teachers who can motivate the students very good, very good and a group of enthusiastic students before starting a garden. A little planning is required among the school management teachers and a group of interested students.
They will need to decide where, where to establish the garden. The land chosen for the herbal garden must be in a sunny place and must not be water. Logged next comes a discussion on which medicinal plants to grow and how to get them. Medicinal plants can be obtained from a nursery traditional healers homes or nearby forests.
It is always important to disc us who will do what making the garden involves tasks such as digging fertilizing. We have initiated a herbal garden in our school, so uh. We are like using this manure in our herbal garden, weeding planting d, making pruning maintenance planning and sharing information with peers families and the public. Once the garden is established, it will need regular maintenance year after year.
This herbal garden is not of an individual responsibility. Rather, it’s the team work, so we have to work collectively. All of us are responsible for taking care of this and we have to think of its sustainability as well. An important part of the awareness raising process is to share the learning with other schools, households and communities in the days to come.
We are trying to replicate in other schools also. They have uh implemented this in the home garden as well. Herbal garden initiative is a schoolbased child center and conservation, oriented uh program by gaining the stakeholders, participation and support from all concern.
This program can be a very successful initiative. Let us all join hands with our children in promoting the concept to as many schools as possible and spread the word on conservation of medicinal and aromatic plant resources across the himalayan region. The use of medicinal plants will continue to rise globally, both in allopathic and traditional medicine. By raising awareness on medicinal plant species, we can increase the chances for finding new medicines for revitalizing the traditions of natural medicinal systems and for making the earth a healthier place to live.
