“This year we will be cultivating more land,” said Keshav Rai, a fifth grader, who was harvesting potatoes. “We will sow beans tomorrow.”
The students not only follow text books but also gain practical knowledge in the fields, said a teacher. The school now earns good money selling vegetables. It has also established a student welfare fund with revenues from vegetables.
“We recently sold vegetables worth Rs 10,000,” Principal Tek Bahadur Baral said. He believes that the school would have an additional Rs 20,000 in its welfare fund in the next one-and-a-half months.
“For a community school like ours, which is generally resource-strapped, an income like this makes much difference,” Baral said. He said that the school had already collected over Rs 25000 in the student welfare fund.
The school involves students in farming under a program titled “Local Curriculum,” which carries 100 marks. Local stakeholders determine what to include in this course. “We simply chose vegetable farming,” said Lok Bahadur Dahal, a facilitator to Bahundangi Resource Center.
Last rainy season, students harvested a good lot of cucumbers from the vegetable garden and made it bigger with other vegetables like ladyfingers.
Students bring fertilizers necessary for the vegetable garden themselves. Organic fertilizer is a household product in this agro-based community. Parents are said to have been happy supporting their children. Motivated enough, the school management is planning to expand its vegetable garden.
The school plans to use the welfare fund in awarding scholarships, students´ health and for higher studies of underprivileged students. “Most of the students are from poor families,” said Baral. “They will be paid back substantially later in their educational life or whenever help is needed.”
Parents are impressed when they listen to their kids talking about agricultural issues. “My son instructs me how to improve fertility and use fertilizers,” Man Bahadur Rai, a local farmer said.
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