Several schools have registered to participate in the inaugural Interschool Garden
Competition which is designed to put on national display the work being done in
the agricultural science departments in many schools in the country.
Education Officer for Agricultural Science, Nicolette Francis said registration for
the competition closed last Friday with the judging set to take place from March
11-15. The announcement of the winners and prize giving will take place at an
Agro-Expo that the ministries of education and agriculture will jointly mount on
March 26.
“There is much taking place in the agricultural departments in schools across both
islands – Antigua and Barbuda – and much of this goes unnoticed by the general
public. This garden competition and the expo that will follow are designed to raise
that awareness and also to stimulate more schools to get involved in operating a
garden within their compounds,” Francis explained.
To emphasise her point, Francis mentioned two schools; the Jennings Secondary
where they are operating a chicken farm that rears fowl for meat purposes and
Cedar Grove primary where their farm generates its own funds when the produce
are sold.
Francis revealed that at two other schools, members of the community have come
forward to offer their assistance to these institutions on a voluntary basis. At Clare
Hall Secondary, Birchfield Osborne, the top winner in the 2023 Community
Garden Beautification Competition, has offered his expertise and has been working
alongside the students for the past several weeks. While at the Sir Luther Wynter
Pre-School, Neil Gomes, has been performing similar tasks.
The head of the Ministry of Education’s Agriculture Science said the idea to host
the competition has been around for many years, but after she was appointed last
year August, she decided that this was something she wanted to implement as soon
as possible.
The competition is a joint undertaking of the Ministry of Education and the
Citizen’s Engagement Unit within the Community Development Division of the
Ministry of Social Transformation. The judging will be done by a team put
together by the Community Development Division. Francis said for transparency
and ethical reasons the Ministry of Education will not participate in the judging
exercise.
The participating schools are as follows;
Pre-schools
-11 Hours Sunshine Preschool and Nanny Cove
-Sir Luther Wynter Preschool
-Simon Bolivar Preschool
-Villa Preschool
Primary Schools
-Cedar Grove Primary
-Buckleys Primary
-Villa Primary
-Old Road Primary
Secondary Schools
Clare Hall Secondary School
-Sir Mc Chesney George Secondary School
-Sir Novelle Richards Academy
-Antigua Grammar School
-Jennings Secondary School
-Glanvilles Secondary School
-Irene B Williams Secondary School
