My schooling at primary stage is from a reputed English Medium School of Pune ie. Pune Cambridge Public school, Ambegaon Pathar, Pune-46. Looking back at my primary years of studies up to class VI, I am taking my education as everyone is into. That is classroom teaching. I do come from a nearby village of Waghapur, Tal. Purandhar, Dist. Pune. We have background of farming but now settled in an urban area of Pune. I do visit my village with my parents & occasionally as well.
This year being in VI grade, we studied “Rural Livelihood” lesson in Social science. I did understand some of the concepts of this lesson, but never thought of studying it as a Field Visit. Our Principal Sir, regularly visits all classes & guides us on various topics of subjects. One day when we were learning “Rural Livelihood” with Afshan teacher, Sir had put forth the idea of Field Visit to understand the rural area by visiting them. We all liked the idea & the visit day & date was declared. To my surprise the rural area selected for the field visit was my village, Waghapur. I was very delighted to hear this! But this time my visit was to study my village life.
We the students of Class VI started our journey towards Waghapur with high excitements. We knew it was not a regular picnic; it was an educational visit to study the rural area life. We all carried our note book, pen, tiffin, water bottle & caps too. On the way we travelled through Dive ghat. It took an hour & thirty minutes for us to visit the village of Waghapur.
Visit to a wheat field – This was our first spot of visit. India is an agricultural country. Many farmers do farming by traditional way in our country. The wheat was quiet grown up. Wheat kernels were visible. We could feel cool breeze of the flowing wind. The crop were dancing in the field. Students were happy to see the wheat crop. Students also found gram crops surrounding the wheat crop. The water supply to these fields was through well & tube wells. Most of the surrounding area was barren. That means only the crops which depend on monsoon season & well water were grown. Student’s understood the importance of water used by farmers in farming as well as our life. We were thinking that so much of water is wasted by urban area people every day.
We went ahead to visit the cowshed. This shed was on a barren area. In the beginning we saw the chaff cutter machine, also called as a kutti machine. It helps farmers in cutting the plants into small pieces so that the cattle & other animals can easily eat it without wasting the fodder. Mama gave us information on the Gir type of cows in the shed. Gir cows are famous for their milk producing qualities. They are different in appearances than the normal cows. These cows are considered as the largest dairy breeds of India. The milk of these cows contains comparatively better vitamins than the normal cows. Gir cow milk contains Vit-K, Vit A-2, Vit-D, Vit-E, Omega 3-fatty acids. Milk contains all nine amino acids that are required by human being to stay healthy. Gir cow milk is also known for slowing down ageing process & making the skin look younger & fresh. Desi ghee of Gir cow’s milk is recommended by doctors & nutritionists for stronger bones, boosting the immune system & aiding the weight loss. So much of information I received, made me fan of these Gir cows. Mama also showed how the animals are fed & drinking water facilities. These animals were found very obedient to the voice of Mama.
We further visited the polyhouse’s, also called as a Green houses. This is also one of the methods of farming in India. Greenhouse farming is very famous in our country. In this farmers grow the crops in structures covered by transparent material. This type of farming is done to provide favorable growing conditions to grow crops, ie. no direct exposure to sunlight, wind, moisture & controlled water supply by drip irrigation. Pest controlling is regularly done. Greenhouses are no less than any goldmine. It offers most profitable business opportunities for today’s generation. We saw in these greenhouses many flowers were grown. The cost of these flowers was very high in the market. We also came to know that vegetables, nursery plants are also cultivated at many places. These greenhouses require high care, monitoring & maintenance. These require high capital to build. Advantages of greenhouses include, long growing seasons, grow variety of crops, healthy crops, protection from pests & wild animals etc.
Next we visited the pomegranate field. Well it was not having fruits but flowers were seen. We also found it was sprayed with pesticides by hand pump manually. We came to know that it takes 3-4 years to get the fruits. We found these were planted at a proper distance to grow. These plants can survive in dry weather & less water. But, it may not bear good fruit. Normally it gives good quality fruits when enough water is there. The soil was fertile (sandy & clay), as the plants were well grown. The plants were well maintained, protected from all sides by fencing.
Visit to Papaya field was surprising as we saw so many papaya fruits ready to eat & green too. The whole farm was full of papaya plants. This farm was irrigated by drip irrigation. In our area we find few papaya fruits being sold by vegetable vendors but here we saw many papaya fruits. Papaya fruits contain high level of antioxidants Vit- A, C & E. By eating this fruit one can reduce the risk of heart diseases. It is also beneficial for people who are treated for cancer.
Next we saw drip and sprinkle irrigation. Unlike other forms of irrigation drip irrigation is 90% effective for the plants. It reduces the wastage of water and evaporation. In Sprinkle irrigation the water is spread through the pipes in the air. It reduces the wastage of water and evaporation.
Next we visited Grampanchayat office of Waghapur village. We had interacted with the Sarpanch Mrs. Revati Kunjir ma’am. We all were happy to see women Sarpanch of a village. She was busy but gave us some time to interact with her. She told us of her journey to be a Sarpanch. In the beginning she was a Gramsevak of village. This experience gave her the knowledge of how the village head works. Two years ago she was elected as a Sarpanch of Waghapur village. Students had asked Sarpanch ma’am various questions; some of them are how you became Sarpanch? How many votes she got? What is the population of the village? She answered our each and every question. She was very kind and polite to us. It was our great pleasure to meet Sarpanch of Waghapur village. She was successful in providing many facilities to the village people like ghantagadi and water ATM, due to her strong determination & constant follow up with the government officers.
Next we saw water ATM, It was so easy to get water in village by the help of water ATM. We need to scan the card and get water. In rupees 5 we got 20 liters of water, amazing to know this, isn’t it? It reduces the wastage of water and gives the correct amount of water to everybody. It is a new technology of fetching water.
We visited a school named as Panchkroshi Shetkari Tantrik Vidyalaya, Waghapur. In the school we saw science lab, classrooms, computer lab etc. We also saw so many projects in the science lab. It was a nice experience in the school because we all sat there & ate our food like village students.
I learnt more about how a crop grows? What a crop needs to grow? It was a firsthand experience because we saw so much new things like some crops don’t need much of sunlight or some need less water and some needs so much care or some needs less care like wheat, gram etc.
I think that every school should take their students to such field visits because it is more effective than the classroom teaching. I don’t say that classroom teaching is not good but sometimes, as per the subject & topics, you should take your students to such visits. In my opinion it was a firsthand experience and a great opportunity to learn. Overall this Field Visit was a great learning for all the students!!!
Miss. Kimaya Kunjir.
Student, Class VI
Pune Cambridge Public School, Ambegaon Pathar, Pune- 411046
