TWO teachers from C W Hendrickse Primary School in Rosedale have embarked on a gardening project to beautify the school and to serve as an outside classroom to keep learners away from bad activities after school.
C W Hendrickse Primary School’s teachers Dorothy Taai and Jennifer Allison initiated the gardening project with the guidance of Joël Kivedo who is a retired lecturer.
According to Taai, Kivedo, who she describes as a botanist, has always been passionate about gardening so when she had the idea to start the gardening project, she knew he would be the best person to consult to assist the school to get the garden growing.
The gardening project which began in July has since flourished. The cacti plant section is 120 square metres while the flower section is also 120 square metres which amounts to a 240 square metre garden at the front of the school.
“I noticed the vacant space in front of the school yard, and I wanted to beautify the school,” Taai said.
She further said, as time progressed other ideas arose and instead of it being a beautification project, it became an educational and recycling project.
Taai said Uitenhage is plagued with pollution and the streets are full of filth but they wanted to teach the learners that they can still beautify their environment despite the drought and litter.
“Uitenhage has always been known as the ‘Garden Town’ and the school wanted to restore this reputation,” said Taai.
Grade four teacher Jennifer Allison said they wanted the learners to learn about different types of plants and be curious about nature.
“Since we started the project many learners have read up about nature and have asked questions about our garden and the type of plants we have. We don’t want them to sit in the classroom all day long, we want them to be able to learn outside the classroom as well,” said Allison.
Taai said they also created the garden as a form of after school edutainment to keep the learners off the streets.
“While the parents are still working during the day, we want the learners to have a place to stay active instead of being alone at home and giving them free time to get involved with bad activities. We want them to use their energy for good,” said Taai.
She further said the gardening project allowed the learners to learn about working in groups and taking responsibility for the plants.
“Whatever skills they learn in the garden, we want them to take them home and start a little garden and enhance their entrepreneurial skills by helping others with their gardens,” said Taai.
Despite the current drought in the metro, the school does not put strain on their water supply, instead they use grey water from the kitchen and bathroom to water the garden every fourth night.
Taai said everything in the garden was donated by Kivedo, businesses in Uitenhage, learners, teachers and the residents in their neighbourhood.
“We want the garden to be a testament that if we work together there is so much more we can do in the community,” said Taai.
