chennai in bustling school campus of vidya mandir mylapore a group of students is busy getting their dirty mud soil on garden that lies tucked atop one the many tall buildings in the grounds at time when gardening seems to be a concept students read about only in textbooks reaching out schools to set gardens and in gardening kapaleecharam committee an ngo that works on environmental issues in and mylapore is working on spreading the gardening bug around schools the surrounding neighbourhoods sumitra a consultant in the group set a rooftop in vidya mandir school campus last year and wants this model as an example to reach out to other schools gardening a calming activity for especially when there so much stress in terms of pressure and performance it is a good outlet for them we want to show this model students of other schools are looking schools mylapore and she said has a variety of greens gourds creepers flowers basil table rose to name a few today the trend is such that busy with phones rather than their gardening gives them a sense of responsibility it is about and the of care that has to be given for something grow this is a valuable need to learn said vijayashree a teacher who oversees gardening activities manaswini shekhar a class ix student says she has been involved gardening in the school since viii standard i first came to just help out in the garden and love with it it was the first time for me to actually interact with in manner it is a very good hobby for me spending a lot more time with plants and it become an activity for and my friends to do together we usually seeds and check on the be it watering or picking out dry leaves she said the up was also able to expand thanks to prize money won by students through a green initiative that helped in the funding hlc international and lalaji omega international are some other examples the city that involve its students in gardening