Three Schools join ETC's Agriculture in Schools Project!
Because of the great success of the Agriculture in Schools Program in Nava Jyoti and Shree Krishna schools, Educate the Children will be adding Patlechhap, Path Pradarsak and Pulchowcki Primary Schools to the program!
The schools were chosen because they have space to devote to gardens and also on the level of interest the school teachers themselves expressed for the project. The Agriculture in Schools Project began in Spring 2005 though the generous support of Bruce Lyon and Neill Cropper and Co. LTD (New Zealand). The goal of the project is to integrate education and agriculture in Nepal.
In many parts of the developing world, the poorest communities are in rural areas and depend on farming. Because it is such hard work, usually hand labor, and because the income is so low, education is seen as a way of escaping rural life. In other words, many people, including the communities we work with, believe that education has nothing to contribute to farming, and conversely, that educated youth should not have any desire to farm. This bias against farming is often perpetuated by the school system. Educational curricula often present rural life and farming as backward and un-modern. Rural children are in effect trained to look down on the world they were born into and, by extension, to look down on their own families.
The Agriculture in the Schools Projects strives to directly combat this situation by bringing agriculture into the classroom and the school grounds. Students and teachers work together to establish and maintain kitchen gardens that include a wide range of vegetables, leafy greens and flowers. Through this work students learn basic farming techniques. Because most schools in Nepal lack even rudimentary materials for science education, the gardens serve as living laboratories that can be used to teach students basic principles of biology and ecology. Because composting is practiced to improve soil fertility, schools can even use the gardens to introduce chemistry.
But just as important is the fact that this project promotes - not only to students but to school administrators, families and the broader community - the idea that education can and should be applied to agriculture. Students learn to appreciate the work that their parents do, but they also start to take an active interest in farming. One Womens Group member reports that her son has become an avid gardener and teaches her what he has learned in school. Furthermore, because everyone can see that the school is, in effect, endorsing the kitchen garden work that ETC promotes through its Agriculture Program, they begin to take a keener interest the techniques we teach and more farmers start to apply themselves to improving their farming methods.
Finally, there is a direct material benefit from this project. The produce from the gardens is used to supplement lunches for the school children and any surplus can be sold locally to bring in a small income. So far, through the common consent of the teachers and students, the money earned has been used to purchase more gardening supplies. In other words, one day the schools will be able to sustain the gardens on their own. All of us at ETC extend our heartiest thanks to Bruce and Neill Cropper Inc. for making this wonderful project a success!
Keep checking back to ETCs website: we will soon add more information about this project, including pictures!