Nutrition gardens to come up in 120 govt schools in Ambala district

Tribune News Service

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, May 24

As many as 120 government schools in the district have been identified to grow seasonal vegetables for the mid-day meal.

An official in the Education Department said though the department, for the past several years, had been asking the schools to grow vegetables, very few schools showed interest in maintaining the nutrition garden due to various reasons.

Recently, during a visit to government schools, the District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO) noticed the efforts made by the teachers of Government Primary School, Rupamajra, and Government Senior Secondary School, Kesri, and facilitated the teachers with appreciation certificates.

They have been growing vegetables, including brinjal, bottle gourd, onions, capsicum and cauliflower. A list of 120 schools had been prepared where nutrition garden can be set up and the schools will get a grant of Rs 5,000 each to set up the gardens.

Surender Singh, Punjabi teacher at Kesri village school, said: “I got transferred to here in 2013 and since then I have been growing seasonal vegetables here. After teaching the students, I prefer working in the garden. Students also show interest and actively participate. We also grow mushrooms and some of our old students have started the business of mushrooms after schooling.”

Neelam Rani, in-charge at Rupamajra school, said: “We had ample space in the school and we were facing issues in controlling the congress grass. So in 2016 we decided to utilise the space to grow vegetables for students. We grow all seasonal vegetables here and the same are given to the students in mid-day meal.”

DEEO Sudhir Kalra said: “Though several schools are maintaining such gardens on their premises, but the schools at Kesri and Rupamajra have done a good job. We have got a list of 120 schools prepared (20 in each block) and the schools will get the grant of Rs 5,000 soon to purchase seeds and equipment. It has been decided to get a training session conducted for the teachers who will manage the gardens.”

The teachers used to express concerns over delays in mid-day meal funds and rising expenses, but the nutrition gardens would help them providing nutritious meal to the students without increasing the expenses.

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