SCHOOLS' NURSERY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

OBJECTIVES

T he National Arbor Day Committee, in an effort to encourage the youth to become more environmentally conscious, established the Schools' Nursery Development Project. It is the aim of the Committee to -

  • Ensure that the youth have hands on experience, through the propagation of seedlings, transplanting, planting, and maintenance of trees until maturity.
  • Develop public education programmes in support of biodiversity conservation.
  • Support sustainable use of the national flora.

MEASURES TO ACHIEVE OBJECTIVES

  • Creation of educational programmes about natural ecosystems, especially gullies, mangroves, coastal woodlands and the water cycle.
  • Develop, support and participate in the preparation of educational materials relevant to raising awareness and understanding of the importance of biodiversity and conservation.
  • Initiating outreach programmes.
  • Documenting and disseminating indigenous knowledge about the national flora e.g. - plants and their usage, especially medicinal plants.
  • Development of appropriate seed and propagule collection and propagation procedures for the species of national flora.
  • Development of programmes for conservation of endangered cultivated plants.

WHO IS INVOLVED?

The following schools have been initially selected to participate in the Schools' Nursery Development Project

  • St. George Primary
  • West Terrace Primary
  • Gordon Greenidge Primary
  • Roland Edwards Primary
  • Welches Primary
  • Vauxhall Primary
  • St. Judes Primary
  • St. Stephen's Primary
  • Iganatius Primary
  • Codrington School
  • Coleridge & Parry School
  • Alleyne School
  • Deighton Griffith Secondary
  • Princess Margaret Secondary
  • Lodge School
  • Queen's College
Roland Edwards Primary Welches Primary

ACHIEVEMENTS

In an effort to realize the National Arbor Day Committee’s (NADC) objective to ensure that the youth have practical hands-on experience, through the propagation of seedlings, transplanting, planting and maintenance of trees until they reach maturity, four plant nursery structures were constructed and handed over to four (4) schools during the year 2000. The recipients of the plant nurseries were as follows.

  1. Welches Primary School
  2. Roland Edwards Primary School
  3. Princess Margaret Secondary School
  4. Alleyne School.

The first three schools were sponsored by Texaco West Indies Ltd., and the latter, by the British High Commission.

The Committee is desirous of constructing and handing over plant nurseries to twelve other schools, but this could only be achieved through sponsorship from the corporate sector.

Nonetheless, the schools receiving the plant nursery structures were delighted and have been fully utilizing the structures to produce plants and vegetables for use within the school and the surrounding communities
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