HYDERABAD: Taking a cue from States like Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Gujarat, Telangana has decided to set up kitchen gardens in State-run schools — government, local-body, aided, model schools and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
Produce from these gardens will be used to prepare mid-day meals for students. The aim is to provide nutritious, pesticide-free food to students, while also teaching them new skills.
Seeds and tools for kitchen gardening will be given by the Horticulture department, and students will have to maintain the gardens, the School Education department said.
Despite the department’s good intention, in Hyderabad district, less than 200 schools will be able to implement this programme, mainly due to lack of space and funds. Education Secretary B Janardhan Reddy, while briefing officials of the School Education department recently, is learnt to have said that at least 5-to-10 per cent of open space in the school premises should be utilised for setting up kitchen gardens.
According to Hyderabad District Education Officer B Venkata Narssamma, availability of space on government school campuses is a major issue in the 689 schools in the district. Of these, 139 schools are situated on rented property.
The circular released also mentions that schools which lack space will grow saplings in pots. Instructions were also issued for setting up roof-top and vertical gardens in such schools.Its worth mentioning that no funds have been allocated for kitchen gardens. Officials in the department said that schools have to come up with their own cost-effective means for implementation. “We want to make use of modern technology in such schools. But since there is no separate funding for this, everyone might have to pool capital resources as well,” said an official. Meanwhile, the DEO has shot a communique to all principals, seeking their views on the scope of implementation. Since Education Department has not given a deadline, there is no clarity when it will be implemented.
Unlikely to work in Hyderabad
“We can’t implement this in over 200 schools, given the space crunch. Also, the meals are provided by a private third-party. So, how the scheme will work is not known,” said the Hyderabad DEO