KARUR/TIRUCHY: Saturday was a day of educational experience away from regular school for these tiny tots of Poiyamani Panchayat Union Middle School at Kulithalai in Karur. No books, no homework. They were a joyful lot as they got their tiny hands and feet messy with wet mud. As many as 40 of them from Class VI and VII were taken on a field trip to a farmland in Poiyyamani by teachers Boopathy, Tamil Poonkuyil Mozhi and Kavitha. The motive: to impart the importance of agriculture and sow interest of farming among them.
“We wanted them to understand every farmer’s effort in cultivating a single kg of rice,” said Boopathy, who coordinated the trip. He added that they were surprised when they got to know that the field they visited belonged to one of the student’s father Selvam. “He welcomed us with an open hand and explained every process in detail. He also guided students in transplanting paddy themselves,” he said.
He noted that earlier, agriculture was taught as a subject in schools, but later it was scrapped. He insisted on having it as subject for the next generation to have an experience of real field. As many as 60 students of Oxford Nursery and Primary School in Manikandam’s Somarasampettai also turned into one-day farmers. They interacted with farmers, learnt to transplant paddy and also had lunch with farmers during their trip to a farm in Pallakaadu in Somarasampettai.
Sowing seeds early on
Children belonging to Poiyamani Panchayat Union Middle School at Kulithalai in Karur were taken to a farmland by their teachers on Saturday to impart the importance of agriculture and develop interest in farming practices. Students were guided on transplanting paddy.