Students of primary classes grew bean plants over a period of three weeks and participated in a competition to understand the importance of growing plants.
The students both from the city and outside had to submit images of the plants at various stages as they grew and their observations with it.
To make germination an exciting activity, The Great Bean Race was launched at the beginning of the month and five to seven-year olds sowed their seeds, watered their plants and measured the growth.
The competition was organised by BD Memorial, Kolkata and RiseUpSDGs, a collaborative project of schools, that culminated on Monday.
“Learning to grow things is significant in early childhood development. Not that they sow and leave it but become almost a parent to the plant as it grows. When they do so they realise why on certain days the plant has not grown properly,” said Suman Sood, director, BD Memorial.
Paramjeet Kaur Dhillon from RiseUpSDGs during the programme on Monday said students should be told about not wasting food and water and switching off the fan. “If we can make our life sustainable we can build a sustainable future...educators should set examples for students to follow,” she said speaking about Sustainable Development Goals.
Some of the participating schools from the city were Sushila Birla Girls' School, Future Campus School, Garia, South City International School, Indus Valley World School and BD Memorial.
The schools opened the bean challenge to their students and the best entries were sent to the competition.
Children of different schools show their plants
During the three weeks, the schools were also asked to organise creative activities around the beans and they had story telling sessions, art and craft, learning the parts of the plant. “Since it was online students over this period could show their plants to the teacher and there were also discussions on why certain plants failed to grow,” said Amita Prasad, the director of Indus Valley World School which had opened it to students of Classes 1 and 2.
There were some students whose plant grew over 100cm and some whose plant wilted away in the middle. “We know a lot of trees are being cut around us and I do not want to be part of that,” said Class II student Advika Sinha.
South City International School principal John Bagul said a single initiative of growing beans taught the children so much.
“It is so important for these kids who are at home for the last one and a half years to learn something by doing it themselves,” he said.