Civil Society News
Muzaffarnagar
SD Public School in dusty Muzaffarnagar has
shown it can do better than the biggest schools
in the country in teaching its students to care
for the environment.
It already has a unique Eco-Club. Now a Herbal
Resource Centre will help the children of SD Public understand organic farming and since they come
from rural households chances are that they will
take this learning back to their family fields.
The school is a part of the Meerut-based Janhit
Foundation’s efforts to solve problems of pollution
and pesticide overuse in western Uttar Pradesh. (See
Civil Society cover Organic Uprising, April 2007).
The Herbal Resource Centre, set up by Janhit,
will help save the bio-diversity of this region currently
steeped in pollution, mono-culture and bad
farming practices. It will provide new livelihood
opportunities. Children will become change agents.
The Herbal Resource Centre was recently inaugurated
by Ajay Rastogi, the National Coordinator of
Organic Agriculture with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).“The Herbal Resource Centre will provide new
livelihood options to rural youth through vocational
courses. The five Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
(MAPs) which have been included under this international
project are Ashwagandha, Sarpgandha,
Stevia, Safed Musli and Ghrit Kumari (Aloe Vera),”
said Anil Rana, director of Janhit.
Janhit will be showing children how to plant
seeds and saplings and use compost, bio-fertilizers
and bio-pesticides. It will impart knowledge on soil
nutrients and herbal crop management. “This is the first Herbal Resource Centre in a
school in the biggest state of the country. It will
help in giving knowledge to students about the
botanical names of the herbs, their medicinal properties,
value-addition and marketing,” said Shiv
Kumar, the coordinator of this innovative project.
“These herbs would be grown organically since it is the need of the hour for this region which is witnessing excessive use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture practices”. The Herbal Resource Centre has a greenhouse, bio-fertiliser and vermi-compost pits along with organic manure units. It includes NADEP, a compost invented by Janhit’s agricultural scientists. The students have started learning the importance of cow dung, cow urine and bio-mass, particularly weeds. Thanking the Janhit Foundation for selecting SD Public School for this innovative project, the principal of the school, Chanchal Saxena, said, “I assure the gathering that not only the volunteers of the Eco- lub but the teachers and myself will leave no stone unturned to replicate this project in other schools.” She said the school also had arain water harvesting system on its campus. The school’s system had prompted the use of rain water harvesting in one of the newly constructed buildings of Nai Mandi Thana located in the heart of the town. Shashikant Sharma, the secretary of the Eco-Club, is excited that principals and teachers of other schools have begun contacting him to provide them saplings, training and demonstrations.
The majority of students of this school come from rural areas. The environmental concerns they learn here will get translated into furtheraction on their family farms. This region of UP has a serious problem with monoculture practices in farming. There is an over emphasis on sugarcane and wheat. Pradeep Kumar of Janhit Foundation said:“Recent studies conducted by the Janhit Foundation show that Muzaffarnagar receives an overdose of deadly pesticides.” Janhit wants to make farms more sustainable by helping them go organic and move away from Green Revolution styles of farming. Janhit Foundation wants to create sustainable livelihood opportunities. Herbal crops are one of the most profitable and environmental friendly agribusinesses. Through the school the message of organic farming will spread. Herbal farming, done organically, will enhance the incomes of farmers.
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