A school in the city decided to send its teachers and staff to be 'trained' as organic farmers. The school volunteered to pay the training fee of anyone interested in learning the concept so that they could return and teach the students about it. The headmistress, a teacher, the director and another staff member of Anand Niketan, Shilaj have signed up for a three-month course in organic farming. The course that charges Rs 6,000 from each participant was fully funded by the school and is run by Vivek Shah and his wife, who have their own organic farm close to the city.
"It was voluntary. But we decided to learn it because we wanted to implement it in our school particularly for grade 1 & 2 students who learn about farming," said Nirdosh Sehgal, the headmistress of the school who was among those who attended the course.
The course is carried out every Sunday. "Land for farming is an issue but in our school, we have large pots. As of now we grow flowering plants in them but they can also be used for growing vegetables and such," said Sehgal.
Shah said that the motive is not only to teach the participants about organic farming but to take them through the entire process of identifying the soil, planting the seeds, generating their own compost, and harvesting the yield too.
"We are concentrating on winter greens that can be harvested in a period of a month or so like methi and such. That way participants will not only learn how to grow their own food but also how to harvest it," said Shah.
Speaking about her experience Sehgal said the training opened her eyes to several aspects of farming. "I always thought termites were not useful but here I learned that they have their role in maintaining soil health. We also learned about the broadcast way of planting seeds where you don't plant it in a planned way in neat little rows," said Sehgal.
Sehgal said the school already had a kitchen garden activity but none of them has had 'formal' training in farming and related activities.
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 "Organic Farming")
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