School marks 50 years by cultivating lands left fallow

Fields around Nittur High School in Udupi are now green, thanks to teachers, students, parents, and alumni

July 22, 2020 10:36 pm | Updated 10:36 pm IST - MANGALURU

Paddy being cultivated in the surroundings of Nittur High School in Udupi.

Paddy being cultivated in the surroundings of Nittur High School in Udupi.

Despite being left uncultivated for decades, the paddy fields surrounding Nittur High School in Udupi wear a green look now. An initiative taken up by teachers, students, parents, and alumni of the school has resulted in about 75 acres coming under paddy cultivation for the first time in years.

The government-aided private high school, managed by Nittur Educational Society, is observing its golden jubilee this year. The initiative was its way of recording 50 years of imparting education.

The headmaster of the school, Murali Kadekar, said: “When I began teaching at this school, there were green paddy fields all around. But as I neared retirement from service [this year], the once-rich paddy fields were dry with no cultivation. I thought the old glory could be brought back with the school playing an instrumental part in it.”

In February, the school called a meeting of students, alumni, parents, teachers, and owners of uncultivated paddy fields and placed before them the idea of launching a campaign called “Hadilugadde Besaya” (re-cultivating paddy on fields left uncultivated). Many owners gave the green signal to till their land. But the implementation was not easy. There were a number of issues such as rebuilding bunds, removing loads of debris and plastic, arranging water supply, seedlings and the like. The issues were addressed one by one by forming five zonal committees for Karambally, Perampally, Kakkunje, Nittur, and Puttur, all areas surrounding the school.

Finally, the cultivation with a mixture of manual labour and machinery began on June 22 at Nittur and ended after 24 days, on July 15 at Karambally with the planting of paddy on 50 acres under the direct supervision of the school.

Inspiration to others

The school’s initiative prompted some other farmers nearby to take up cultivation of their paddy fields on their own, with about 25 acres coming under paddy, said Mr. Kadekar.

All those paddy fields come under the jurisdiction of Udupi City Municipality. “Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat also planted seedlings for about three hours one day during the campaign,” the headmaster said.

The proceeds of the harvest (sale of paddy) will be used to reimburse the expenses of the five zonal committees. If there are further savings, they will be donated to an orphanage or any other institution serving society, Mr. Kadekar said. “The school will not take a single rupee from the sale of harvest,” he said.

Mr. Kadekar also said that the school, in the past five years, has been taking its class 10 students to paddy fields elsewhere and making them plant seedlings and do harvesting for one day. But this time, irrespective of class, the students joined hands in planting seedlings.

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