NINH BÌNH – For the past three months, the Tam Điệp City Women’s Association in the northern province of Ninh Bình has been cultivating a vegetable garden for kindergarten students. The project aims to provide clean and fresh veggies for the children.

Tạ Thị Pha, chairwoman of the Tam Điệp City Women’s Association, said that the garden was not only beautiful to look at, but also supplemented the children’s daily lunch with healthy produce.

Chairwoman Pha said that since last year, the city women’s association had been developing plans to implement the vegetable garden model in kindergartens across the city, with the aim of improving the quality of children’s lunches and teaching them how to grow their own vegetables.

After studying the soil of different kindergartens, the city women’s association chose the Bắc Sơn Kindergarten as the location for their pilot programme.

On an area of 300sq.m, the kindergarten’s management team collaborated with the association to buy small plants, fertiliser and a watering system. The vegetables were planted and cultivated by members of the association.

After a successful three months the model has been expanded to a further six kindergartens in the city.

During the implementation stage, workers, teachers and parents were eager to get their hands dirty and help with the project, said Pha.

Different kinds of vegetables are planted based on the season, including water morning glory, basella alba, chayote, cucumbers, tomatoes and potatoes.

Previously, large areas at the kindergartens had been left unused causing waste and environmental pollution. Now the area has been spruced up for the vegetable garden, providing an attractive landscape and clean environment.

At present, workers and teachers at the kindergartens take turns as caretakers of the gardens.

Each plot is between 300-700sq.m, and does not use any herbicides or pesticides.

Dương Thị Thủy, principal of the Đông Sơn Kindergarten in Đông Sơn Commune, said, “Seeing that their children are given clean vegetables during meals, parents are very happy and enthusiastic to join in with the work of planting and taking care of the vegetables.”

The garden in the Đông Sơn Kindergarten has grown to 700sq.m. The school plans to expand the garden to 1,000sq.m in the future.

Nguyễn Thị Hiền, a teacher at Đông Sơn Kindergarten, said, “The clean vegetable garden helps the children learn about the natural world outside of lessons. They can join in the planting, cultivating and harvesting of the vegetables, and then enjoy the fruits of their labour. All of this makes the garden more meaningful.”

Chairwoman Pha said that the women’s association hoped to expand the garden project to all kindergartens and primary schools in the city. – VNS