ADILABAD: While the news of Japanese schoolchildren helping with the chores at school garnered appreciation from across the world, a school in Echoda mandal of Adilabad district is presenting a unique opportunity to students and helping them bring food from the farm to the table. Additionally, in a district where malnutrition is an issue to tackle, it is ensuring that students, who are often from marginalised communities, have access to different kinds of food.
While it is a common sight to catch students playing in the fields after school, students of the Girls Ashram school can be seen harvesting vegetables with teachers and other staff members. The senior students spend about an hour watering the plants, removing weeds and doing the regular tending work.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, school headmaster K Uttam Das mentions that the inspiration behind the initiative was his father, who was a farmer by profession, who forced him to learn to farm. “I was interested in organic farming. After seeing the half-acre wasteland, I decided to get it cleared and began using it as a vegetable garden about three years ago,” he says.
A quick look at National Family Health Survey 4 and 5 will show the increase in the prevalence of malnourishment (wasting, stunting and underweight) among children below the age of five in Telangana. Das says the issue of malnutrition is a perennial problem in the district and says the consumption of organic vegetables is beneficial for the 263 students studying in the school.
He explains that they grow okra, brinjal, tomato and leafy vegetables apart from fruits such as mango and guava. He mentions that they get two sets of harvests, once in October and once in March. “Every two days, we get sufficient vegetables to prepare food for 263 students,” he adds.
He explains that they get the seeds and organic manure for free from the local market owing to the support of the gram panchayat, adding that they use the dung and urine of the cow as natural additives. The entire process helps the students learn about cultivation patterns, Das remarks.