Tura, June 7: For the first time in the history of schools in Tura, herbal gardens are going to come up in two well known schools of the town after GHADC MDC and Forest EM Ashahel D Shira moved for it by announcing a special fund of Rs 5 lakh each for the Montfort School in Tura that provides special education to children with disabilities and the Tura Public School.

The two schools will each be provided a funding of Rs 1 lakh every year for the next five years for the herbal gardens to be a success. The gardens will host various medicinal herb species that are common to the region and used for generations to treat various ailments.

Eco clubs composed of students and guided by teachers will manage the herbal gardens.

The announcement for the two herbal gardens was made by Ashahel D Shira while participating in World Environment day programmes in the two schools on Monday.

“There is a huge demand for herbs with medicinal values from Garo Hills for treatment options. Earlier, herbs were in abundance all over Garo Hills but the destruction of the forests and felling of trees have brought them under threat of extinction,” says Ashahel D Shira while speaking to media after the announcements.

“My dream is to see the local herbs and medicinal plants of Garo Hills once again thrive in our forests. The first step in this direction is setting up herbal gardens and gradually introducing them back in the forests,” says Ashahel D Shira.

He said that dislocation and bone fractures treated by A.chik Sam or Garo traditional medicine has been one of the most successful and publicised methods of treatment that has been carried out for many generations.

“Not just us locals who have benefitted from such traditional herbs. Even people from outside have come to take the treatment and results have been very successful. We want people to explore the full potential of the power in these traditional herbs,” said Ashahel D Shira.

Some of the most common medicinal uses of local herbs are for skin diseases, diarrhoea and dysentery.

Herbs like Do.ja gipe (Justicia gendarussaBurm), tree bark Amblitong/Ambaritong, Sambangguri/Amok leaves and shoot and Kering roots and bark are household names in treating diarrhoea and dysentery in the villages.

Then there is the famous Sam Janggi leaves used for the treatment of women’s diseases. In fact many houses still tend to pots of this highly precious and rare herbal medicine.

“The future is bright if we can preserve and protect our medicinal assets. Everywhere in the world forests are disappearing along with the medicinal plants. We in Garo Hills can be the alternative in providing the precious herbs that will be used by research teams and doctors to find a cure for many of life’s ailments. Our first step begins with the herbal gardens,” strongly believed MDC Ashahel D Shira.