Kayo ba ay pabor dito? Muli natin ibalik ang masayang pag-aaral na meron gardening. ako pabor dito, dapat hindi lang puro computer games at facebook ginagawa ng mga studyante natin. isa na naman magandang derektiba ng ating working Secretary Manny Piñol.
Touch
the soil, smell the grass
DA,
DEPED TO RE-INTRODUCE
BASIC
GARDENING IN SCHOOLS
By Manny Piñol
Secretary, Dept. of Agriculture
"I believe the children are our future," so
goes a line of a very popular song.
But what exactly would be the future of this
agricultural country if the children of today do not even know how to plant
vegetables or do not even know the smell of the soil and the scent of a tomato
flower?
You could blame it on the lack of opportunities in the
farm but the fact is today, young Filipinos are leaving the countryside for
jobs in the big cities.
Most Filipino children do not even know how to plant
vegetables or even just basic gardening.
For many young kids today, the closest they get to
farming is by playing Farmville in the computer.
Two weeks ago, during the Cabinet meeting I attended,
I talked to Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones and presented to
her the idea of bringing back basic gardening as a special activity for elementary
school children in both public and private schools all over the country.
She really liked the idea and so we agreed that DA and
DepEd would work together to implement a national school gardening program and
the search for the Best School Garden in the country.
While we have not signed a Memorandum of Agreement
yet, I have asked the Director of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Dr. Vivencio
Mamaril, to prepare the Program Design.
I have also directed the DA Regional Directors to
coordinate with their counterparts in the DepEd so they could start
coordinating their activities.
In the proposed MOA that DA is drafting, DepEd will
make basic gardening as a special school activity allowing teachers and
students to spend time working in their gardens in the back of the school.
DA, on the other hand, will provide technicians,
gardening tools, seeds, organic fertilizers and even irrigation equipment.
The search for the Best School Garden will start at
the School Districts Level, Municipal, Provincial, Regional and National.
The winner will receive a Presidential Award and
prizes in cash and gardening tools.
I have instructed Undersecretary Bernadette
Romulo-Puyat to include in our proposed budget for 2017 an allocation of P20-M
to support this program.
The amount set aside for this advocacy may look huge
but I believe it is worth it.
I cannot allow a situation where the future generation
of this country would not even be able to know the difference between an
eggplant and okra or a chicken and a duck.
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