The mid-day meal will soon be more nutritious for the students of KVKM MUP School, Devarkkovil, Kuttiadi, in Kozhikode; thanks to 'Haritha Hridayam', an initiative aimed at promoting the cultivation of organic vegetables in the school garden.
As part of it, parents will join hands with teachers for cultivating vegetables on the rooftops of school buildings. School headmaster P K Jeevan Navas, who is leading the initiate, said the project intends to make the institution self-sufficient in vegetable production to meet the requirement for the mid-day meal. "We want to ensure pesticide-free and nutritious veggies for our students by setting up our own garden on the campus, he said. The project is a joint effort of parents, teachers, and students and 300 grow bags were set up on the school terrace in the preliminary phase of the project," he added.
In the later phases, the garden will be expanded to other school buildings too. The upper primary school has around 1,700 students and 'Haritha Hridayam' targets to cultivate organic vegetables to meet the total demand of vegetables to provide mid-day meal to all students from next academic year. According to Navas, the scheme also aims at attracting parents and teachers to the agriculture sector.
As part of the initiative, an awareness class on vegetable cultivation will also be held for them. C Muhammad, additional private secretary to minister T P Ramakrishnan, inaugurated the project by sowing seeds. Agricultural officer Pramod Kumar, headmaster P K Navas, school manager V K Majeed and school leader Kadambari Vinod were present.
