When would you expect walkways in many schools to have properly-maintained flowers along the footpaths? That is what you find when you visit Police Children primary school in Kibuli.
As you enter the school compound, the first thing that will catch your attention is tomato plants with ripening tomatoes, eggplants and Sukuma wiki lined along the walkways; fruits and vegetables were planted right from the gate to the head teacher’s office.
“We have been planting these fruits for the last two years, and I can tell you the school no longer buys vegetables or tomatoes; with the support of Developing a New Africa (DANA), through Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA),”said Hajji Swaib Kawooya, the head teacher.
DANA is a nongovernmental organization based in Uganda and Sweden which has interest in environmental conservation through young people.
Hajji Kawooya further explained that apart from the project enabling children have a balanced diet, the pupils use the small farms for practical lessons especially in their science studies.
“This is what we call clean farming, we wanted to keep a clean environment as well as put the small pieces of land we have into good use, flowers don’t have any value here; so, we removed them and planted these vegetables,” he said.
Hesbon Emanuel Opio, the primary six pupil we found tending to the tomatoes, told us that the ‘gardens’ initially belonged to the school’s agricultural club but now every pupil has a portion they take care of. “I voluntarily joined this club last year and I don’t regret; I have acquired some farming skills which I will practice during the holidays at home,” he said.
Opio said: “I have learnt how to mulch, prune, weed and harvest; we also sell vegetables to the school and the money we get is used for buying pesticides and seeds for the next season.”
As for Desire Amaro, a P6 pupil, she has put the skills she acquired from the club at home.
“Right now I have six sacks of Sukuma wiki at home. I planted them after learning those skills from here in the agricultural club, the excess vegetables we get are sold to the community around the school,” she said.
HOW IT STARTED
According to Dana Simovic, the founder, Developing a New Africa, the whole idea started in 2010 when she first visited Uganda and realized that people were not keen about protecting the environment.
“I was travelling to Soroti town, then suddenly a woman threw a bottle of water through the window; something struck me and I realized Ugandans were not keen at environmental protection, and that was how I started.
She added: “I then approached KCCA with my idea of how conservation can be put into action right from primary schools and they accepted and we started the project to save the environment through simple farming.”
Simovic explained that so far the project has been introduced in eight schools for pilot studies, then it will be rolled into other schools by 2018.
“KCCA accepted and we launched this project in eight pilot schools which include Police Children, Railways, Citizen, Kibuli Demonstration, Queen of Peace, Kitebi, Kabowa and Kibuye primary schools,” she said.
Simovic said: “We want to open people’s minds to a clean environment and show how important this is for the human wellbeing. Children are curious and that’s why DANA thinks the best way is through environmental education.”
While visiting the projects, Eric Gitta, an education officer, from the ministry of education, said the government will continue supporting programmes that introduce hands-on skills to the pupils.
“I know many schools especially in Kampala don’t have land but I’m impressed by the farming I have seen in polythene bags and done by the pupils themselves,” he said.
Gitta added: “My message to the media is that such programmes should be broadcast or written about so as to encourage pupils to love agriculture.”
justuslyatuu08@gmail.com