A development-oriented Non-Governmental Organization, Save The Nation for Future Leaders, has called on the Ministry of Education to reintroduce gardening in basic and second-cycle schools across the country.
The call came in respect of food shortage in second-cycle institutions.
In a letter written and signed by the Founder and President, Kwadwo Atta Apeakorang, addressed to the Ministry of Education, he indicated that decades ago, basic schools had gardens which were kept by school children under teachers’ supervision.
This, he said, ensured the schools had foodstuff to share among the children and the teachers and even though this did not provide food to feed the schools, the practice equipped the children with practical knowledge in farming.
He indicated that the schools stopped gardening, thereby denying the children such enviable skills.
“With our second-cycle institutions experiencing food shortages in the recent past, we reckon the reintroduction of gardening, if done on a larger scale and targeted at ‘domestication’, will ensure food security in our schools, equip our children with the skillset to engage in farming when they graduate, and change children’s mindsets about farming,” he said.