Govt scraps proposal to appoint service provider in State-run schools
The School Education Department had decided to establish kitchen gardens in all government schools.
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CHENNAI: Following poor response from organisations, the State government has scrapped its proposal to appoint a service provider for developing and managing kitchen gardens in all State-run schools.
The School Education Department had decided to establish kitchen gardens in all government schools, which had allocated space to cultivate vegetables.
The vegetables were supposed to be used for anganwadi centres for noon meals for the children. However, most schools lacked the knowledge to set up kitchen garden and so, the new scheme was delayed for a while.
Hence, the State government had planned to tie-up with private firms to set up kitchen gardens in schools, for which first priority was given to residential institutions.
A senior official from the department told DT Next that his department has floated a tender to invite bidders for developing and managing kitchen gardens in the State-run schools.
“The successful bidder would initially provide service to 20 residential schools for girls in 9 districts on a pilot basis. The garden was planned to come up in a 1,000 square feet area allocated in each school,” he added.
Weekly classes in Horticulture Skill Development were also planned, where students would be taught the procedure of kitchen-gardening through both practical training and theory.
“The firms, which would have been selected, would deliver their service and equipment for setting up of nutrition gardens, grow fruits and vegetables and conduct lessons for one year.
But, due to an inadequate number of responsive bids, the tender process was cancelled,” he stated.
The official was hopeful that the plan to establish kitchen gardens in State-schools would continue. “The authorities were discussing to adopt new ways to implement them in a phased manner,” he said.
