Kunnamkulam: There’s nothing quite like tasting the fruits of your own labour. For the students of Excel Public School, that meant enjoying porridge cooked out of the rice they had grown in their school's paddy field.

The children couldn’t hide their excitement as they ladled the steaming porridge into their bowls, savouring every bite. More than just satisfying their hunger, it was a hands-on lesson in agriculture that also gave them a deeper understanding of the effort behind every grain of rice.

The Excel Public School has its own agricultural department, dedicated to growing as many food crops as possible on campus. Under the guidance of farming experts, students sow seeds, tend the plants, nurture the greenery and finally harvest the paddy themselves, gaining firsthand experience of the journey from field to plate.

After milling the rice, all the students came together to enjoy it as porridge. A special pandal was set up on the school grounds, and with the help of school staff, the porridge was served. Side dishes were made from vegetables grown right on campus, while pickles came from mangoes harvested from the school’s own trees. The aim of this initiative is to help the new generation understand where their food comes from. Alongside classroom learning, practical agricultural experience is a vital part of the school curriculum.

To make this possible, one class each week is entirely devoted to fieldwork. Most of this time is spent in the school’s 1.5-acre paddy field, where Uma rice is cultivated organically.

Whenever the work in the field demanded extra help, the children happily rolled up their sleeves and joined the workers. To give them the full experience of harvesting, the students manually harvested a portion of the crop, while the rest was collected using machinery. The school also keeps a Vechur cow on campus to provide a steady supply of organic manure.

To savour the porridge made from the rice they had grown, the students were joined by special guests, including P G Jayaprakash, Vice Chairman of the Municipal Council and Standing Committee Chairpersons Misha Sebastian and Arsha Shiju.