SCHOOL GARDENS IN THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: POTENTIAL AND POSSIBILITIES

This paper examines the practice of school gardening in Trinidad and Tobago. It describes major benefits of school gardens anddiscusses issues in the primary school curriculum,including societal and administrative perceptions that hinder the realization of objectives of school gardening practice. The creation and development of indigenous knowledge is a major benefit of school gardening, hence its suitability as a medium for change and improvement, especially in Caribbean states where issues of food security arise.Additionally, this paper assesses the impact of the pandemic on implementing school gardens and proposes feasible solutions to sustain the practice in an online teaching and assessment environment in the face of pandemic restrictions, based on the adaptation of an approach used by tertiary education students of the Centre for Education Programmes at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. Benefits and limitations of this approach are discussed and recommendations proposed for educators and administrators.