Govt school develops ‘Arogya Vana’ during pandemic

UDUPI: Amid the pandemic-induced lockdown, the Government Higher Primary School, Nallur in Karkala is developing Dhanwantari Aroygya Vana, a herbal garden in half an acre of land.
Nagesh, headmaster, said: “We started working on this project in February and have planted about 120 varieties of saplings. The garden is being developed with the support of teachers, parents, peoples’ representatives and SDMC members. Several local doctors and donors are supporting this project.”
“We will soon begin documentation of all species. Earlier, seven teachers used to visit the school everyday. Due to the lockown, only I visit the campus everyday and water the plants now. We want to develop this garden as a model one in the state and also develop a walking track around the garden for the benefit of the locals,” he said.
Rotary club Karkala Rock City has sponsored the fencing for the garden at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000. The plants have been sourced mainly from Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga.
Parashurama Kuteera
The school is credited with introducing several innovative projects. Under the guidance of Karkala block education officer G S Shashidhar, they have built Parashurama Kuteera, a traditional place of learning, where students are not confined inside the four walls of the classroom.
This kuteera acts as an activity and centre of learning traditional art and culture. In this connection, we had launched classes on vedic mathematics recently. Subject expert Gururaj Hegde Karkala and team have volunteered to train the students. Students are taught techniques/ sutras to solve mathematical arithmetic in an easy and faster way. Nearly 42 students from Class 6 and 7 had enrolled for these classes, but with Covid-19 cases increasing, we have temporarily put these classes on hold, said Nagesh. The student strength of the school is 123.
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