Jammu: To help students equip themselves with vocational knowledge and foster self reliance, yet another first of its kind initiative – ‘Organic Mushroom Cultivation: An Eco-friendly Entrepreneurship’ was launched at Government Higher Secondary School Paloura by the Directorate of School Education Jammu. The initiative aimed at creating employment opportunities was inaugurated by the Director School Education Jammu, Ms. Anuradha Gupta, who divulged that the Directorate keeps innovating and reinventing itself for the interest of the students and Organic Mushroom Cultivation was one such step towards empowering students and rural communities with entrepreneurial skills while inculcating in them a sense of responsibility towards environment through waste recycling techniques.
At the inaugural function, a workshop was conducted by Dr. S.P. Pourush Shrikhandia, (Head Coordination Cell) in which he demonstrated the entire process of cultivating mushrooms organically without the use of any chemicals, to the students and other stakeholders and made them aware about the nutritional and medicinal benefits of mushrooms. Laying emphasis on the economic aspect, Dr. Pourush said that the initiative could augment family income, specifically in rural areas, as mushrooms could be cultivated throughout the year, in summer as well as winter season. ” It is a low input- high output option as the entire process of cultivation requires only organic waste, making it a good cash crop option”, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Anuradha Gupta said that it was an opportunity to ‘earn while you learn’ for the students and after passing out from the school they can build on the knowledge and experience thus gained to achieve greater heights in life. She passed on the directions to Chief Education Officers to coordinate with the Home Sciences students and teachers of the Directorate to come up with different kind of children friendly recipes so that the cultivated mushrooms can be used to augment the nutritional value of the food being provided to the students under Mid Day Meal scheme. She further ensured the stake holders that the Directorate will take every step to make the initiative economically viable and a self sustaining model for schools and families.
Chief Education Officer Jammu, Mr. Vijay Sharma informed the stakeholders that during the 2nd phase of the initiative, DSEJ will expand the project by involving the local community to create economic self sufficiency amongst the students, their families and the society in general.
Others present on the occasion included Ms. Mamta Sharma, Deputy Director Planning, DSEJ and Ms. Shveta Sharma, Member Coordination Cell DSEJ and Dr. Alka Sharma, Member Cultural Cell DSEJ wherein Dr. Jagdish Raj Panotra, Head, Monitoring Cell presented the welcome address, Principal GHSS Paloura, Ms. Sunita Chadda delivered the formal vote of thanks and Mr. Gourav Bali provided the technical support.
