The School of Gardening started by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in 2011 has turned out to be a hit. Following the success of the initiative, other civic bodies of the city are also looking up to this school to get their gardeners trained and gain expertise in horticulture.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has approached the NDMC for training its Horticulture department employees. Moreover, the school also plans to give training to its schoolchildren so that they learn to care for nature.
This would also earn the NDMC revenue of Rs 36 lakh. Besides, this would be the first time when the school would take in 'students' from outside its body for training. “The SDMC has sent a proposal to us wherein they want 1,800 of their gardeners to be trained in our school. We will charge a fee of Rs 2,000 per head for the 10-day course,” said HK Pachauri, Director Horticulture, NDMC.
The charges would include the cost of reading materials, transportation for practical training, infrastructural facilities as well as refreshments,
he added.
“The 10-day course, he said, would comprise five days of theoretical learning and five days of field training. The 1,800 people will be taught on rotation basis. While around 200 will be given theory classes, the other lot will be sent for field training to different places,” explained S Chellaiah, Principal of the School of Gardening.
Sources said the East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations along with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) have also made similar requests.
Meanwhile, the Education department of the NDMC believes that the school should also take in schoolchildren to teach them basics of gardening like sowing of seeds, taking care of saplings, cutting and budding. "The children who come during our summer camp can be sent to this school for learning gardening skills. By this, they will be more sensitive towards nature and care for it. But, this plan is yet to be finalised," said an official in the Education department.
The School of Gardening, situated at Purana Quila nursery, till now has imparted horticultural skills to 1000 of its gardeners in over five batches. "The training is for 100 hours in total which spans over a time of one month," Chellaiah said.
The course which is undertaken periodically, teaches different aspects of gardening like watering, creating terrace gardens, pest control, maintenance of machinery, and honing expertise in seasonal flowers to its people.