Teachers 'Gone Fishing': This Assam School Farms Fish, Vegetables For Mid-Day Meal

A school in Assam’s Kokrajhar district may have finally found an answer to lacking nutritional parameters for its students.

The Simbargaon Higher Secondary School, located about 15 km north of Kokrajhar, the headquarters of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR),  is a landmark in Simbargaon village as it ventures out to farming vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and fish for their mid-day meal.

While “gone fishing” for teachers may mean absenteeism in many schools across the rural landscape of Assam, this school actually promotes a healthy lifestyle as its teachers are actively involved in procuring locally found food for the students.

Founded in 1939, the school resembles a botanical park covering more than seven acres with classrooms built like cottages. A botanical park covering more than seven acres with classrooms built like cottages.

The focus on nutrition powered by vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and the fish is a strong reason for parents clamouring for admission of their children in the school.

“What reassures us is that our children get good food during their midday meal,” Kamal Basumatary, the father of a student said. The emphasis on quality food has yielded results. The students have built up a reputation in sports, emerging as runners-up at the last U-14 Kokrajhar district-level summer school tournament. 

Varnali Deka, Kokrajhar’s Deputy Commissioner, said the district had been lacking in terms of nutrition parameters. 

“However, with the convergence of efforts of the departments, institutions, and the community, we have seen awareness and efforts to eat right over the last couple of years,” she said.

She further emphasized that Simbargaon HS school - one of Kokrajhar’s 16 schools have added mushrooms to their nutri-gardens, taking the mission to a different level. 

Notably, this was possible only due to the passion with which the school principal Sansuwmi Basumatary and the security guard Shambhu Charan Mushahary pursue farming within the premises, besides doing their regular jobs. 

“I studied in this school and was fortunate to become its Principal five years ago. I have not done anything significant, just tried to give back something to the institution that made my career,” Basumatary said. 

The passionate duo nurtured an orchard comprising jackfruit, guava, banana, and lemon, apart from planting shade, flowering, and wood-yielding trees. The involvement of teachers, non-teaching staff as well as the students, have further added to the assistance. 

“Vegetables and eggs are served regularly. We also provide chicken procured locally and fish occasionally, whenever we catch them in our two bigha pond,” Basumatary, who teaches English, said. 

Furthermore, the school also saves on timber needed for new desks and benches or for repairing old ones. The raw material comes from gambhari (beechwood or white teak), which the school grows. 

“We currently have 40 gambhari trees. A sapling is planted whenever one is hewn for furniture the school needs,” Mr. Basumatary said. 

He said that the students are taught various aspects of growing their food so that they could earn a livelihood if they could not make it through academic pursuit.

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