A group of girls in a government school organised a food fair and will spend the proceeds on buying books for the school’s library and on various activities on the campus.
About 60 girls of Classes IX to XII of Children’s Welfare Association High School in Behala organised “Anandamela” on Friday and learnt about business development and nutrition, subjects that are part of their curriculum.
They have made small investments, borrowing from their parents, and have understood what can fetch them profit and what cannot.
Class XII student Mitali Paul took Rs 350 from her father.
She and three of her friends made an investment of a little more than Rs 1,000 and sold gondhoraj ghol worth Rs 1,585.
Mitali has returned Rs 350 to her father.
“Most of the stalls sold food. As for beverage, only tea was on sale. So after making an assessment, we decided to sell gondhoraj ghol,” Mitali said.
Teachers said the aim of the fair was to teach the girls how to study the market and figure out what can bring profit.
“Many of our children come from lower middle class families and some of them are first-generation learners whose parents barely know how to write their names. We have to teach our girls alternative paths for income. We do not expect every student to get high-paying jobs but we intend to make them financially independent,” said headmistress Sarbari Sengupta.
The one-day fair had 15 stalls, of which 12 sold food and the rest items made by junior girls. The food items were all made by the students at home.
In total, the girls made an investment of Rs 11,878 and made a profit of Rs 8,635.
The participating girls have decided to spend their earnings on buying books for the school’s library and mementoes to be gifted to the students of the outgoing Class XII batch.
“The girls want to contribute a part of the profit to the school. We encourage that because it will develop among them a sense of giving,” said Sengupta.
In each stalls, the girls, guided by their teachers, put on display the nutritional details of the items.
“They learn about it in nutrition classes and we wanted them to apply that knowledge. If the nutritional content of, say, biryani is on display, the students will know how much they should eat it,” said a nutrition teacher.