Healthy lifestyles and entrepreneurial minds in Sri Lanka
Entrepreneurial School Gardens promote healthy eating, modern agricultural practices and career opportunities
Students at the Senkadagala school for children with disabilities begin their scheduled lessons after working in the school garden. The Senkadagala school is one of 400 in Sri Lanka where FAO has implemented the Entrepreneurial School Garden programme.
©FAO
Before the school bell rings announcing the start of lessons at the Senkadagala School in Kandy, central Sri Lanka, its students have already begun their lessons in their school garden.
Past its walls adorned with plastic bottles recycled as make-shift pots for brightly coloured plants, some push around wheelbarrows, ready to begin pruning, weeding and harvesting fruits and vegetables that are destined for the students’ meals.
Others begin work in the nurseries where the potted anthuriums and cacti are kept: these plants are carefully tended to be sold, along with the surplus fruit and vegetable harvest that the school garden yields. These conscientious gardeners are the Senkadagala School students who have sight and/or hearing impairments.
Students here learn about their ecosystem and the nutritional value of indigenous vegetation. While students with hearing disabilities are taught through sign language, those with impaired vision are trained to identify plants through touch and smell.