Agriculture and garden-based learning is the need of the hour as it helps in the cognitive and psychomotor development of the student. It provides skill-based education which not only ensures learning by doing but also helps in educating the child about growing various types of plants. This study is conducted by taking 500 students from the secondary level by providing them a self-prepared questionnaire by the research scholar in two schools of Panipat. Students are taken from fields of science along with maths, botany, and agriculture fields. Based on the questionnaire for plant grower, statistical analysis is done to find if there is any significant difference between learning agriculture in school and not learning it in school. On statistical analysis using the Anova test, it was found that learning agriculture was beneficial for children in holistic development. It also helps the schools in improving the nutritive value of midday meals, involving the students in some skill-based education which can help in solving the problems of malnutrition and providing jobs to millions of Indian youth.
TopBackground
R. Bowker et al ‘Gardening as a learning environment: A study of children’s perceptions and understanding of school gardens as part of an international project’(2007), learning environment research, Springer Link- Three countries selected for this project were England, Kenya and India. Sixty-seven schools were selected from these three countries and concept map was used to know the different ways in which children utilized school gardening to understand the growth of crops. Based on this study it was found that school gardening helped children in learning about crop growth and they liked this activity.
D. Desmond et al., ‘Revisiting garden-based learning in basic education’ ResearchGate, January 2004- GBL (garden-based learning) has been especially beneficial in environmental education as well as in teaching scientific concepts. It allows developing GBL globally for researchers and educational administrators. Resources and ideas can be exchanged to promote GBL under all conditions.
According to L. Kanthimathi (2017)- ‘Government schools raise kitchen gardens- Many Government Schools have grown kitchen gardens instead of ornamental plants to supplement food prepared under the noon-meal scheme.’
As per Bennur S.(2014) - ‘Schools are growing vegetables, fruits in kitchen gardens to develop healthy ambiance.’
Figure 1. Students with teacher maintaining plants grown in a recycled plastic container
UNICEF and USAID during 2004-05 started the School Water and Sanitation towards Health and Hygiene (Swasth Plus) Programme in the Karnataka state of India in three districts which are Tumkur, Raichur, and Gulbarga. Ten blocks from these three districts were selected and this program gained momentum during 2005-06. It was a program aimed at an overall improvement in the quality by achieving universal enrolment, attendance, and retention in an environment conducive to learning. It helped to develop bio-intensive gardens in 360 schools and 369 teachers were trained in Bio intensive Gardening. The initiative was launched by UNICEF in 2005 in 120 schools of Gulbarga, 200 schools of Raichur, and 80 schools in Tumkur districts of Karnataka. School students have found a new reason to come to school. The students of the school would troop in early before regular classes begin so that they can tend to the plants sown by them. It resulted in improving attendance, mid-day meal, and extra surplus production for distribution.
According to Emily J. Ozer, (2008) -Learning in the domains of Academics, Social and Health can be improved by school gardens. This study provides a review of the impact of the curriculum of school gardening on the school as well as student’s work, it tells us about how to use it and that further research is needed to improve this practice. There is a growing U.S. movement for the “greening” of the schoolyard.”
As per the report of Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations, FAO,(2010) ‘School gardens are cultivated around or near to schools, tended at least partly by learners. School gardens are run for reasons like- promotion of good diet, nutrition education, the development of livelihood skills, together with the power to extend this learning beyond the school itself in a variety of ways.’
According to P. Hazra et al. (2010) “Garden for vegetable processing- Type of vegetable farming where vegetables are produced with the sole objective of supplying them to the processing factories.
Agriculture is an activity of man which is primarily aimed at the production of food, fiber, fuel, etc. by optimum use of terrestrial resources.
Composting is a biological process in which micro-organisms decompose the organic matter and lower the carbon-nitrogen ratio of the refuse and the final product of composting is well-rotted manure known as compost.”
Based on the above findings in India and the U.S. following study is conducted to understand the impact of garden and agriculture-based learning on students of Secondary School.
TopIntroduction
School education should be carried out for the holistic development of the individual. This education cannot be limiting. It has to include various spheres of knowledge which include the Cognitive and Psychomotor Domain of learning.