In these crowdforesting videos, from the time we started talking about the Miyawaki Model of Afforestation, certain questions that have cropped up almost every week are: “How close to the house can trees be planted?” “If Miyawaki forests are created, will snakes appear there?” “What can be done about it?” and so on. I have answered them earlier but today’s video is to show you a classic example of trees planted close to buildings.
But before that, let me inform you that an online video training programme about crowdforesting, that we had planned to start last year, will start soon. It is actually a professionally-created summary of what I’ve been telling you through the last 50-60 episodes. Through it, you’ll get a full picture of the Miyawaki Method in one to two hours. The training fee is Rs 1,500. The income we get from it, after deducting the production costs, will go into creating a fund to finance our future experiments in the Miyawaki Model of Afforestation. The training will be given in Malayalam and English. Those who sign up for the training will be able to access the online videos for a year. The first part has 30 episodes, each running to two to three minutes. The second part, for which you will have to pay an additional fee, will have 25 episodes. If you are interested, please join the programme.
Today I’m going to introduce you to Siddhartha Central School managed by Siddhartha Art Foundation, situated at Pallimon in Kollam district. It is run by Mr Suresh, a well-known sculptor, whose unconventional thinking about education has influenced the way he runs this school. It is worth visiting also because of the trees that have been planted in the premises. Although I have been assuring you that trees can be planted near our houses, most people are hesitant because of fears that they will weaken the foundation or that the trees will topple over the building or that snakes will enter the house and so on. As a result, they pave tiles over the space around their houses, and suffer the intense heat they produce.
This is the school compound and you can hear the twitter of birds all around. The school building is five-storeyed. It has been constructed in such a way that you can access every storey directly. Trees have been planted at every level. In fact, the school is virtually covered over by trees. You can spot the buildings only when you go close to them. Likewise, his house also has big trees very close to it. Originally, the soil was clayey because the area had a brick kiln. He changed its texture by piling dry leaves and dung, and planting grass on top of it. This is an example of how you can change a denuded area into one rich with trees in sixteen years. This school has enrolled around 2,300 students and they walk here with no fear of snakes. Maybe there are snakes here but they are not seen outside. The school is kept fairly clean and the children live in close association with Nature.
One of their first exercises every year is to remove all the existing labels on plants and trees, and put up new ones. You can see great bio-diversity here. What is interesting is that I see a shrub here, that was usually used to make fence. I used to get spanked a lot by my mother with its stem. It has tiny thorns but the stems are good for beating kids with. Today, corporal punishment is no longer possible but I’m happy to see it after all these long years. Let me tell you one more thing. The first sight you see on entering the school is a temple where there are idols of Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ, Lord Ganesha and inscriptions from the Quran. Although everyone talks of religious harmony, seldom is it put to practice like this. All students pray here first before going to their classrooms. This practice, Mr Suresh tells me, will help remove thoughts of religious differences from their minds. Let us find out more details about the school from Mr Suresh himself.
He is Mr Suresh, a well known sculptor, who has been successfully running this school with more than 2,000 students. One of the fears people have about having trees close to their houses is that it will attract snakes. One person even declared that Miyawaki forests are a virtual magnet for vipers. We haven’t read such reports anywhere. Here you have a person who has had trees very close to his house for many years. You can see that these trees have not been newly planted or grown for show value. They are big and have been here for a long time. He has no fears that they will harm his house. Let’s find out what his thoughts on this subject are. They will serve as an inspiration to all of us.
Sir, did you have all these trees when you bought this plot of land or did you plant them?
This is an old house and my family has been living here for several years. My father was an Agriculture Officer. During my childhood, he used to go to a place called Velangara every week to do farming on the plots we owned there. On holidays, he would take us along. We would pluck rare plants from there, and plant them in our compound. That was how I developed a passion for plants. Later, wherever I went, if I saw new plants, I would uproot them and plant them here. I wouldn’t permit any pruning because I wanted them to grow naturally. As for snakes and other creatures, I consider them as part of the ecosystem. During nights, when visitors come here, they ask us whether this is a zoo. That’s because after 8 pm, there is a lot of noise made by civet cats on the trees, and our dogs on the ground. We’ve seen snakes here and even in the school compound but they do not bother us. My belief is that as long as we don’t attack them, they will leave us alone. Regarding the advantage of having trees in our house compound, as you can see, many birds including storks, and small creatures like the squirrel come to this trough to drink water till 9 in the morning. My house is situated a little away from the main road but because of the trees, there is no dust in the rooms. We are able to keep the doors open. The place is very cool even in these hot summer days. My guests actually prefer to remain outside. There are many rare species of trees here – Simsapa, Cannonball, Rudraksha – and in the pond you would have noticed the chironjie.
Do you fear that the roots of the trees will damage your house?
Not at all! The roots will go only where they will find manure and water. Since there is neither of them below the house, I have no fear. But even those who have no such fear don’t do it. The roots of that huge Spanish cherry near the house actually hold the soil together. They haven’t damaged the building.
You have adopted the same method in your school as well.
Yes. It was a lifeless place which was used as a brick kiln and had only rubber trees.
How long back did you buy it?
Sixteen years. We retained the trees it had. Then we would uproot all the plants we found on the wayside, wherever we went, and bring them to a caretaker here. He would plant them first in sacks full of dry leaves and soil. The soil here being clayey did not permit any plant to grow. So we followed the Miyawaki Method you advocate – dug up the earth to the maximum extent possible, filled it with dry leaves and dung. Then we collected as much of green grass as possible, with roots intact, and grew them here. Grass, as you know, absorbs nitrogen from the air and makes the soil fertile to create an ecosystem for itself. This provided favourable circumstances for the trees too. So we don’t permit anyone to destroy the grass. That was how we made the clayey land fertile. There are 15-year-old trees in the school premises and you’ve constructed the buildings without cutting them down. We have done that as far as we could.
You have 2,300 students in the school. Aren’t their parents afraid that there might be snakes in the vicinity?
No! Earlier people would say that trees should be planted far away from the school buildings. Now, the children, inspired by what they see here, have started growing trees in their home compounds. We even have second standard students who plant bitter gourds, and then label it in Malayalam and English. This is because it is part of their school activity. Every year, the old labels on plants and trees are removed and new ones put up. Thus the students become familiar with the various species. Parents have accepted it. No parent has told me that he or she will not send their child to my school because they fear snakes. In fact, they like this ashram-like environment.
There is a canal that runs behind the school. You have preserved it by growing screw pines on the sides.
Exactly! During summer months when canals were opened for agricultural purpose or when it rained far away, this canal used to overflow. When that threatened to destroy our boundary, we decided to grow bamboo and screw pines to protect the soil. You can see white-breasted water hen and Asiatic water snake amidst all that. This place is noisy in the morning. Similarly there are birds that squat on the playground at night, maybe to catch small nocturnal creatures. This is a full ecosystem that has become part of the lives of 2,300 children, their teachers, and their guardians.
There is a peculiarity I notice about this school. In most other schools, the trees are grown far away from the buildings, and low cement parapets lined with marble tiles are constructed around them. Here it is not a garden but an ecosystem that accommodates birds and small creatures. Generally, if there is a canal near a school, there is a fear that students may fall into it. So, it is either filled up or covered over to form a walkway. But here you have preserved it. That is very rare. I have been to many schools all over Kerala and have seen afforestation being promoted. But nowhere have I seen the creation of a total environment like this. Likewise, you have proved that there is no threat to buildings if trees are planted close to them. What we see is ample evidence of it, and you have provided a model for all. Let us hope this will inspire people to plant more and more trees. There was another sight that amused me in the beginning about Siddhartha School – the temple with its Hindu, Christian and Muslim symbolism. But on further thought, I felt it conveys a serious message. What inspired you to think of it?
Sri Narayana Guru who taught us that the essence of all religions is the same. If we teach this to students at a young age, it will have a marked difference in their thinking. Although we have had many leaders, the one who was genuinely a Renaissance leader was Sri Narayana Guru. So I felt if we expose students to the religious symbols very early, they will pay attention to all, and not think of any single religion as theirs. I observe students draw a cross as they stand in front of Virgin Mary, move on to pray when they look at Lord Ganapathy, and then silently meditate as they stand in front of the Quranic inscriptions done in brass. They will learn that Nature, the universe and all of us are all the creation of God. That inspired me as a teacher to install the temple. You asked me about the river. That comes from my experience as a child when I accompanied my father into the farmlands. Once a month we organize a Nature Walk for our students up to the fifth standard. We take them to the river and permit them to step into it, under the teachers’ supervision, and to catch butterflies. We teach them the difference between bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable things like plastic. During this corona period, we dug a huge pond with steps leading into it. Students can wade in, again under the teacher’s supervision. I haven’t heard any parent complain about the canal or the pond in the school premises. They too have become educated, I think, without our telling them anything.
Instead of first constructing school buildings and later planting trees, you preserved all the existing trees and then put up the structures and thereafter involved the children in planting more trees. The contribution of your school towards educating children about Nature is considerable. You are encouraging them to live in harmony with Nature. No student from this school will have fears about planting trees near their houses. Even if only ten percent of your students follow this practice, it will be a great achievement.
We received the Vanamitra Award some time back. When we applied for it the next year, the department discouraged us because they wanted other institutions to get the award. “Most institutions have not been able to do even a quarter of what you have done. So, if you apply, only you will get the award,” we were told. Thereafter, we have never applied for it. It is indeed fortunate that all the children are growing plants in their compounds. Nature has a serenity and a timing. In order to see a plant sprout, a flower bloom or an egg hatch, one has to wait patiently. We cannot inject an antibiotic and cause it to happen. Nature takes its own time, and the children learn to view Nature with love, patience and compassion. These are lessons that children have to learn. It was because I got an opportunity to learn them that I created a background like this when I set up this institution. Our panchayat has decided to put up Miyawaki forests in a thousand houses. This project was included in the previous plan. I was part of the planning committee, and it gave me immense satisfaction. I like this village very much. It has a lot of rivers, small streams and paddy fields. Many have been converted using landfill. Part of the playground in our school is itself an example. And in atonement I desire to see this land covered with trees. That you have lent us a hand in this effort is a matter of great inspiration.
Forty years back, while delivering a speech, Sri P. T. Bhaskara Paniker stated that during his childhood, educated youth used to remain in their native land and give leadership to progressive social ideas. Thereafter there was a migration of educated youth to the Gulf countries in the 1980s. Most people leave their place of birth in search of jobs. I am no exception. But you have remained in yours and set up a huge institution. It is a commendable achievement.
Thank you.
I’m happy to share this with our viewers. Some of them may come here to see the school.
I’m glad to hear that. Many people started coming here after we received the Vanamitra Award. Since our students are involved in a lot of activity, they are visible on the social media as well. All this has become part of our usual life here but our guests are amazed and happy to see it.
Please extend all possible help to the visitors.
Of course. My pleasure!
You have seen a lot by now. If you wish to make a personal visit, please contact Mr Suresh. The school is near Kundara in Kollam. This area covers 12 acres. And it is worth seeing. Those who run schools themselves must definitely pay a visit to find out how you can make yours different from the rest. Most schools put up gardens and lawns using the latest techniques in order to give their buildings a five star hotel appearance. What this school presents is an environment which teaches us how to run a school in sync with Nature. Please come over. Mr Suresh is only too happy to host you. Besides, I hope you will be convinced that there is nothing to worry about planting trees close to your house. Mr Suresh’s house is situated close to his school. There too, he has many trees surrounding the building. I’m sure a personal visit will be useful to you.