GREATER NOIDA: State government schools are now growing vegetables in the backyards to supplement midday meal kitchens.
While many districts in Uttar Pradesh have been working on the initiative, Poshan Vatika, for the past two years, Gautam Budh Nagar has just started working on the scheme with around 400 anganwadis growing vegetables on small scale.
The education officer of the district says the same is expected to be replicated in primary and junior schools for which preparation is going on.
Schools, however, think it is easier said than done because there is a sheer lack of infrastructure, water supply and manpower support.
“There are around 1,500 anganwadis in the district and we have started this initiative to help spread information and awareness among young students about the value of nutritious food. The vegetables were planted and everyone was free to consume what was being grown. So far, some 400 anganwadis in the district have such gardens,” Anil Singh, the chief development officer of Gautam Budh Nagar said.
The programme is also being replicated in government schools. Though none are ready at the schools yet, the district inspector of schools (DIOS), Neeraj Pandey, said it is likely that several schools would soon be having these gardens.
“We have informed some schools in Greater Noida to start preparing for these gardens. I’m sure they will be working on them in some time,” he said.
However, a junior high school in Dehda village, which has a plot of land and has been identified by the education department as a prospective kitchen garden destination, is far from prepared for one such.
“We have received no information or notification from the government or the education department. There is some land on the school premises, but so far we, have no knowledge about any kitchen garden. Water supply and electricity are a big problem in these schools. Also, there is not even a sweeper for the school, so a kitchen garden looks like a distant possibility,” a teacher at junior high school in Dehda said.
The initiative to create kitchen gardens in schools compounds and anganwadis to help generate awareness about nutrition was introduced by the state government two years ago, however, it is yet to proliferate uniformly across the state.