School offers farming for elementary students

Farm chores have become a thing of the past for many children, but schools in China are now offering students a unique opportunity to tending crops and care for poultry on campus to help provide a more well-rounded education.
Guoqing Primary School located in Changsha, central China's Hunan province, has recently turned a stretch of unused land behind its playground into a miniature farm where students can learn how to plow, plant vegetables, irrigate and even feed chickens.
Each class will be allocated with a piece of land to plant all kind of seasonal vegetables of their choosing, as well as raise chicken or duck. The daily farm chores, under the guidance of the teachers, will fall on the shoulders of the students until harvest.
China, a big agricultural country endowed with rich agricultural resources, has a long history of farming and the tradition of intensive cultivation as well as a huge rural population, said school principal Wang Fang. She added that the younger generation, especially in urban areas, has few opportunities to experience farming.
"This is a chance to reconnect with a lifestyle that students don't have much access to anymore. It will also help them master certain agricultural knowledge and skills and enhance their understanding that every grain is hard work, Wang said.
Li Yameng, a third-grade student, has quickly picked up the nuances of farm work: plowing a field with a shovel, preparing the soil, carrying the manure to the field and eventually planting vegetable seedlings. She came to draw water to irrigate the seedlings every day after school.
"I was all dirty and wet but I embraced new things and learned a lot," she said. "It's not easy to work like this all the time, like farmers. Grain is the fruit of diligent work so we should cherish it."
According to principal Wang Fang, students will be allowed to bring the vegetables home and are encouraged to cook a meal for their parents with their own harvest.
"Though it has only been two months since the farm curriculum began, I find many kids perform better in independent living and self-management, and are more considerate and cooperative," she said. "The farming education will enable students to tap into their own potential."
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