From robotics to farming, six new initiatives for BMC schools

‘Living Greens’, an NGO partnering with Project Mumbai, in the farming initiative, set up six vegetable beds fitted with a drip irrigation system on the terrace of the school and seeded them with lauki, karela, tomato, toriya, bhindi, and spinach. “Apart from training students, the idea is to teach them why organic farming is needed and is beneficial for the environment,” said Prateek from Living Greens

Mumbai: Libraries, terrace farms, digital labs, mental health care, STEM and robotics training: these brand-new initiatives for BMC schools, under the banner ‘Learning 2.0’, were launched on Saturday by state education minister Deepak Kesarkar and NGO ‘Project Mumbai’ at the Woollen Mills Municipal School in Dadar.

Mumbai, India – July 15, 2023: Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar during the launch of learning 2.0 is New co-curricular education for Mumbai Municipal school students across the the Mumbai, education including read Mumbai, kitchen Gardens inclusive education BMC Dashboard, Mental health care stem and robotics learning , initiative by an NGO Project Mumbai at wollen Mill municipal school , Matunga, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, July 15, 2023. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

‘Living Greens’, an NGO partnering with Project Mumbai, in the farming initiative, set up six vegetable beds fitted with a drip irrigation system on the terrace of the school and seeded them with lauki, karela, tomato, toriya, bhindi, and spinach. “Apart from training students, the idea is to teach them why organic farming is needed and is beneficial for the environment,” said Prateek from Living Greens.

Prateek said the process had been simplified enough for students to do it themselves. “They will learn how to grow vegetables organically without much water, watching each step of plant growth along the way,” he said. While the day-to-day maintenance will be taken care of by housekeeping staff, a team of 30 students from the fifth, sixth and seventh grades will be chosen for the school farming club via a Nature quiz.

“We buy vegetables from the market, unaware of how much hard work farmers put in to grow our food. Children need to learn this, and they will get a different satisfaction from eating the vegetables they have cultivated,” said Kesarkar, hinting that the produce might eventually be used for the state’s mid-day meals for schoolchildren. “Each farm unit can yield 75 to 80 kg of vegetables,” said Prateek. “Twelve of them will produce 900 kg: enough for the school for the entire year.” For now, however, there are only six units, with talks on the horizon to add more.

Beginning with 25 this year, the ‘Kitchen Gardens’ initiative will gradually be increased to encompass 100 BMC schools. A ‘Green Curriculum’ for the schools is also in the cards.

Another addition to at least 400 schools this year, and eventually all the BMC schools in Mumbai, are libraries under the initiative ‘Read Mumbai’. The brand-new library at the Woollen School was stocked with 600 titles, both fiction and non-fiction, in English, Hindi and Marathi for all grades. A majority of the books were sent in by volunteers.

“Project Mumbai’s citizen volunteers source the books and set up the library,” said Madhavi, who is undertaking the programme for Project Mumbai. “Eventually we plan to have a standard booklist for schools, based on the curriculum they follow.” Project Mumbai will also hold around two workshops a month in the library, on a mix of subjects from storytelling to conversations with authors. Kesarkar added that the initiative would soon be extended to the rest of the state under the initiative ‘Read Maharashtra’.

Another addition to the BMC schools is digital computer labs to increase students’ digital literacy. BMC teachers will first be trained in Microsoft software, after which they will teach students. “We have also started labs with 3D printing, robotics, coding and artificial intelligence, which will be functional next year at schools with the most enrollment,” said Kesarkar. These will first be piloted in 50 schools.

The Smiling School Project is the mental health care initiative, which will offer training to teachers and supportive therapy to students. The initiative has begun in 200 schools, with sessions to be held with trained psychologists in class.

Kesarkar added that the government had partnered with the Paediatric Association of India to keep a watch on students’ physical and mental health.

“We realise the challenges teachers face but they still strive hard to give that extra bit to students,” said CEO and founder of Project Mumbai, Shishir Joshi. “These initiatives are in a way complementing that effort and ensuring that children have a competitive edge in their overall growth and personality.”

To tie it all up, Project Mumbai has also set up a digital dashboard to monitor the progress, performance and impact of the many pilot projects started in BMC schools with the help of many NGOs. “For anything to be successful, you need a pilot project to establish that the project can work,” said Kesarkar.