Schools to get ₹5,000 each to set up kitchen gardens

The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has issued guidelines for setting up nutrition gardens in schools. Under the ‘flexi fund component for innovative interventions’ in the mid-day meal scheme, an amount of ₹5,000 will be allotted annually to each school to set up the garden.

The fund will be used for purchase of seeds and equipment. The cost will be shared by the Centre and States.

“Focus will be on the locally available vegetables. In schools that have space limitations, vegetables such as bottle gourd, bean, etc that are climbers can be cultivated in pots,” an official said. Plants can be grown in small containers, cans and discarded earthen pots, the official added.

Teachers will be trained in setting up kitchen gardens and basic garden management by experts of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK), said the official.

In a bid to familiarise students with farming techniques, they will be given an hour of garden time and an hour of lesson time every week.

Kitchen gardens are being promoted in schools by States such as Assam (49,994), Kerala (6,197), West Bengal (6,197) and Gujarat (2,694). “Government schools in these States are already running them on their premises. But till now, there were no proper guidelines as to how set them up,” added official.

According to the latest data, 9.46 crore children were covered under the mid-day meal scheme in 11.34 lakh schools during 2017-18 with 25.06 lakh cook-cum-helpers involved.