UNATHI Mkhefa Primary School in Ezibeleni Township was among the schools that won gardening tools in a competition organised by the regional Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform.
A total of 12 schools – two entrants from each of the six local municipalities in the district – took part in the competition, where learners were required to write and perform a poem, prepare a speech and design a poster about land care, use and development of land for farming purposes.
Unathi Mkhefa Primary’s garden were placed second. They won themselves a water storage tank and various gardening tools, including watering cans, a hosepipe, wheelbarrows, rakes, spades and forks.
The learners who participated were also awarded certificates.
Educator at Unathi Mkhefa Primary, Thabisa Ndonga, said because of its location, the majority of the school’s learners come from disadvantaged backgrounds and many depended on the school feeding scheme for their daily main meals.
She said they had always stressed the importance of agriculture, especially the learners growing crops in their gardens at home so they wouldn’t have to buy all their vegetables.
“The garden is a precious gift to the school because whatever we grow in the garden helps the school and the learners. When it’s harvesting time, residents come and buy vegetables from us to raise funds of the school,” she said. “Some of the vegetables from our garden are used in the nutrition programme, while we also hand out some vegetables to learners to take home to their families,” she said.
Ndonga said that even though they didn’t have agriculture as an official subject at primary school level, they still taught their learners how to grow plants and look after them.
“We want them to emulate what we teach them at the school in their homes.
“This will also stimulate their interest in the field, should some decide to pursue agricultural studies when they reach high school,” she said.
Grade 7 learner, Rory Banza said, “because of the garden none of us ever goes home hungry and the water tank will assist us to have water for our plants so they can grow faster.”
In the garden, learners grow vegetables like carrots, cabbage, spinach and potatoes.
Linda Smanga, from the Department Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in the Chris Hani region, added that the department offered many bursaries to those pursuing agriculture studies, but few applications were forwarded to them.
