Finally we were able to plant the trees on our campus in the month of December 2008. On 13 December, 2008 we organized a small function of tree plantation. It was decided that each class would adopt a tree, plant, and water it everyday. We included classes from UKG to X in this activity. The programme has been quite successful. The students had fun and have been watering the plants regularly. The survival rate has been almost 99 percent.
Some interesting incidents have been happening. A 1st class student called Bharath (Village: Dyangapur) did pluck the leaves of couple of plants and root out one plant. So the secondary section students caught him and brought him to me. They also told me that he was telling his friends that he would come to school on one Sunday (his village is just 500-700 m away from school campus) and root out all the plants. So I asked him if he did not like trees. He said he did. Then I asked him then why did he pluck the leaves. He had no answer. So I decided that we would make him plant a tree and he would water all the trees planted by the students for next two weeks along with his friends. After that incident there was one two more cases but then it has stopped and the trees are growing well. I guess we will have to take care of these trees for at least one summer. We have also planted trees along the fencing. They have also been growing well. All in all I would say the campus would start looking more beautiful in an years time.
The trees we have planted are
Gulmohar (Delonix (or Poinciana) regia)
Neem (Azadirakhta indica)
Peepal (Ficus religiosa)
Rain tree (Enterolobium saman or Samanae saman)
Ashoka (Polyalthia longifolia)
The bio-diesel plant
All the trees are showing a good growth. We have been using the organic manure once a month and sprayed a chemical in order to prevent the parasitesfrom attacking the plants. I am looking forward to the annual phenomenon of monsoon.
