Seeds for a brighter future

Rajnikansan Arushanandi’s son Brideman is in fifth grade but he knows more about gardening than she does. “He has been learning at school and he comes home and tells us about organic fertilizer preparation, and how nutritional green leaves can be grown,” she says.

Another mother, Sobana Muhundan sees her son Sibiraj showing similar interest: “I have been growing organic vegetables in my garden at home for a long time now,” she says, “but now my son does most of the gardening.”

At the heart of this conversation is a small patch of earth at the J/Nadeshwara Kanista Vidyalayam, Kankesanthurai school. It reopened in 2016 after 27 years, when families began returning to Kankesanthurai after the end of the country’s long civil war. The school re-started with just 30 students in grades one through five. Today, it has more than 70.

It was chosen for support under The European Union Catalytic Support to Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka programme.

The €8.1 million programme is being implemented by the UNDP with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and local partners. 

Story produced by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

To read the full story and view the online photo essay, please visit: https://stories.undp.org/seeds-for-a-brighter-future.