THE GOAN NETWORK
CANACONA
For a second season in a row, students and staff at the Government High School at Gaval-Khola in Canacona harvested paddy which was cultivated in the school compound four months ago.
It was hard work, as students assisted by staff of the school completed the entire harvesting process.
Continuing for the second year, staff and students themselves raised the nursery and transplanted the paddy crop at the end of June, including the task of ploughing and sowing processes.
“In fact, the ploughing, land-leveling, seed selection and sowing, transplantation, harvesting, thrashing, and winnowing was carried out by students and assisted by the school staff”, informed a teacher Vishant Bandekar.
Added the School Headmistress Gautami Dessai: “During the period, students under the guidance of teachers, even carried out watering, whenever required, adding manure, cleaning and removing weeds.”
By October, the field was filled with the ripened paddy giving a golden look to the entire area, and the students and staff took up the task of harvesting and threshing the paddy.
Not only the staff, but the schoolchildren seemed to enjoy the unique pleasure of reaping the crop planted by them in June, a learning process on how the rice crop is cultivated and reaped.
Gautami Desai, teacher Vishant Bandekar, other teachers, and parents including Yeshwari Vaiz gave practical knowledge to the students about paddy cultivation.
Interestingly, agriculture is taught in the school as a special subject, and the fallow land in front of the school is now being cultivated, thereby imparting practical knowledge to students.
