Schools now to have kichen gardens across the country: MHRD

October 20: The Human Resource and Development Ministry has issued guidelines for developing and maintaining a kitchen garden in all the schools situated in both rural and urban areas of each state of India. 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.

The guidelines also stated that the School Nutrition Garden would help in addressing malnutrition and micro-nutrition deficiencies among school children. Apart from the nutritional aspect, these gardens would also be a part of experiential learning for students.

According to the guidelines issued by the HRD Ministry, seeds, saplings, organic manure, training and technical assistance for setting up the kitchen garden can be obtained by getting into tie-ups with agencies like Krishi Vigyan Kendras, the Department of Agriculture/Horticulture, Food and Nutrition Board, State agriculture universities and the forest department.

“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.