Nutrition gardens will be built in government schools of Punjab
Digital Desk, Chandigarh. The fertile soil of Punjab will now not only fill the grain stores of the country, but will also lay the foundation for a bright future and better health of the children studying in government schools of the state. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government has taken a historic decision to establish nutritious gardens in 5,073 government schools, bringing about a paradigm shift in the educational infrastructure of the state. This initiative will not only bring children out of the cycle of malnutrition, but is a revolutionary step towards making Punjab a leading state in the country in the field of health and education.
Based on the guidelines of the Punjab State Food Commission, the project directly targets thousands of students in the state who will now have access to fresh, pure and pesticide-free vegetables and fruits right in their schools. The quality of mid-day meals has often been a challenge in government schools, but the Punjab government has found a permanent and natural solution to this problem. The vacant surplus land of schools, which was neglected for years, will now be transformed into flourishing herbal and fruit gardens with the combined efforts of the Agriculture, Horticulture and Education Departments.
The biggest feature of this scheme is its visionary approach, in which children are being taught the mantra of 80 percent nutrition and 20 percent taste amidst the changing lifestyle of eating habits. In districts like Amritsar, where schools have three to four acres of additional land available, through these gardens children will not only get good food, but they will also be able to understand the importance of new farming techniques and crop diversity from childhood. This scheme is not limited to schools only, but 1,100 Anganwadi centers of the state have also been made a part of this mission, so that a healthy Punjab can be built from the foundation itself.
This initiative of the government makes it clear that the present administration does not believe only in promises on paper, but in such actions on the ground which directly benefit the general public and the coming generations. The special training being given to teachers and mutual coordination between departments shows how serious the Punjab government is in its resolve to provide quality food to every child of the state. Only when the childhood of Punjab will be healthy will the wheels of progress of the state get new momentum. This project is a symbol of the thinking of modern Punjab, where along with education, health and protection of environment is also the top priority of the government.