Jingwai Mingde Primary School in Xuanwei, Yunnan Province is a big hit these days. With more than 1,000 teachers and students, the school has got enough food for themselves by offering farming for students. And more surprisingly, it has fed itself for 16 years. How can the school do that?
Jingwai Mingde Primary School itself has 100,000 square meters of farmland. It wants students to do farm work to learn some labor (劳动) skills. So the school gave each class a piece of land to grow vegetables or raise animals. Students do farm work twice a week under the help of their teachers.
There is also a zoo in the school to help students learn more about animals and get along with them. The school also set up a greenhouse with fruit trees for students to get knowledge about plants, instead of listening to teachers in the classroom. Students often go to the zoo and greenhouse so they can learn how to raise animals and grow fruit and vegetables there.
"Children who have not kissed the land will not have a complete childhood (童年)," said school head teacher Lei Yingfei. "The farm labor will build excellent characters that last a lifetime. By working on the farmland, students get a better understanding of life and nature."
