Schoolyard Project: Sowing the Seed

Ramagondanahalli govt. school is down the Whitefield main road. Most people pass by it on their way in or out of Whitefield. It's quite unremarkable in every way except that it has a bunch of volunteer teachers from the neighborhood who are determined to make early learning an exceptional experience for the children. Informally they call themselves 'Whitefield Ready', Sumedha Rao a volunteer teacher with a sea of experience in the corporate world, who now teaches English to the motley bunch at the school, told me they decided that they were 'ready' for anything. I saw how true that was when we pitched the idea of an edible garden at the school. Sumedha saw our vision of a community farm, micro enterprise that could fund every little pencil the school needs, the children learning to be self sufficient, and the larger community getting involved. The school authorities were very open to the idea, they were only worried about one thing - vandalism.

RGhalli school has a vast property that is freely utilised by the halli/village. Young men play soccer and cricket on practically every square inch, farmers bring their cows to graze, neighbours throw garbage over the compound wall, municipality trucks use it as a garbage collection spot, neighborhood real estate uses the campus to store construction material, and its vast ground is largely used as a thoroughfare. At night drunks sleep on the school verandah, leaving behind broken bottles, damaging property that is left unattended.

I believe education and a stellar school environment is the birthright of every child. Children who attend govt. schools like RGhalli belong to the lower economic strata of Indian society, children whose parents work as housemaids, migrant labourers, drivers, street vendors, farmers. Govt. schools provide free and/or subsidized education to those who cannot afford. RGhalli is no different in that sense. There are about 280 children study in the school - right from grades 1 to 7.

These kids come into school at around 8 am though schools begins only by 10. They walk into school in slippers and sandals and in uniforms that are occasionally donated by a large hearted corporate. Their first task is to sweep and mop their classrooms and toilets. Which is ofcourse not a bad thing, I wish all schools teach children to value and respect labour, and be self reliant!

Over the first few interactions with the kids, we sounded out the idea of a kitchen garden. They loved it! But a lot was yet to be done. The principal had assured us that the tiny plot he said we could have will be dug up within a month and the earth changed if required. Turned out to be the longest 30 days!

Meanwhile I came across this amazing slideshare on wild plants. So we thought why don't we do a workshop on edible plants that are so accessible, so common, and so prolific that they are often dismissed as weeds. In the coming weeks we conducted a small workshop with the children of Grades 6 & 7, talked to them about soppu/greens. It turned out they knew much more than we did, and they very enthusiastically participated in an art session with us.

We wanted more. We wanted that their families and the community at large see the wonderful potential in our children.

x
Rajani

Next: An Idea Germinates