TWENTY schools divisions in Region 6 were urged to establish public farm schools to encourage students to plant.

The public farm school is a project of  Education Education Secretary Leonor Briones.

“I’m very happy that we are establishing farm schools and I promise that I will support this proposal because through farm schools, we provide not only for our needs physically as a people in terms of nutritious food, but also beauty because there is nothing more beautiful, I believe than a vegetable garden and a flower garden,” she said in a virtual message.

Briones added that by learning agriculture, students will acquire knowledge on gardening and farming.

“If our learners spend more time in their garden, they will know what makes plants grow, what gives a flower its spectacular color, what makes a tree bear fruit, and what makes any living thing in a garden provide us with all that we need. So lessons, whether it is in science, whether it is in literature or even in sports, can be learned through agriculture, through our garden,” she said.

The planned farm schools started with the formation of a technical working group to focus on the project on Feb. 15, 2021.

The project is set to roll out in August this year until July 2022.

Ramir Uytico, regional director of DepEd-6, said the launching of the project is “the call of the time.”

“We need to be nourished, we need to be energized, and that we need food. That’s why having in mind the regional mantra where every child is a champion, we should think of this basic need to be provided to our students and in response to the eradication of poverty,” he said.