Govt school students set up kitchen garden to aid noon-meal scheme

CHENNAI: On the occasion of World Earth Day, around 50 students of a government school in the city joined hands to set up a kitchen garden which will be a boon to the noon-meal scheme at the school, while an NGO event sought to create awareness on the need for a movement to save soil from extinction.

Around 50 students of Corporation Higher Secondary School in Mylapore planted many vegetables and fruit saplings inside the campus. In course of time, the produce from these is expected to be utilised for the noon-meal scheme at the school. The plan was initiated by Sundaram Finance along with a city-based NGO, Bhumi.

A senior executive at Sundaram Finance said, “Illustrating the example of how small saplings in the years gone by had now grown into big trees inside the school premises, providing shade to the students, we have encouraged the students to plant as many saplings as possible. They were also asked to take this simple concept of kitchen garden back to their homes.”

In another event, a city-based NGO Save Soil Movement organised an awareness campaign at Chennai Domestic Airport on Friday. Hundreds of volunteers gathered at the spot, where they distributed leaflets and spoke about the threat of soil extinction and its horrific consequences for humanity.

“Soil resources are declining rapidly not only in Tamil Nadu but globally. The UN says soil must have at least 3 per cent organic matter to be called soil. However, in soils in the state, this amount is only 0.5 per cent. Thus, not only is agriculture affected but the nutrients in the food we eat are getting depleted, affecting the health of the people,” said a volunteer who was part of the NGO.

The volunteers stated that they were holding the awareness event to demonstrate support for the Save Soil Movement which has received a phenomenal response internationally.