Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat will rope in the Horticulture Department and use funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) to develop kitchen gardens in 942 government and aided schools in the district.

Called as Akshara Kaitoota, these gardens will be in addition to the vegetable gardens already in place in many schools.

Inaugurating an orientation programme on Akshara Kaitoota for headmasters of schools from Mangaluru North block here on Wednesday, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer M.R. Ravi said that of the 1,423 primary schools in the district, 942 were in the gram panchayats where MGNREGA funds was available. There are 730 schools that have at least one acre of land for developing gardens.

Mr. Ravi said that gram panchayats will take the assistance of the Horticulture Department to develop Akshara Kaitoota by planting saplings of lemon, drumstick, amla, papaya and sapota. MGNREGA card holders will work to develop these gardens.

To start with, Akshara Kaitoota will be developed in 107 acres of land in schools for which ₹ 5 crore of MGNREGA funds will be used. This will help in generating 1.4 lakh man-days of work and provide employment to 3,800 families, he said.

In the 146 schools in the urban areas that do not have space, “grow bags” will be provided for students to grow vegetables, he said.

Mr. Ravi said that schools can consider planting saplings of teak wood available in the nurseries of the Horticulture Department. Teak wood will be an asset for schools. Schools that do not have compound walls can consider growing Jatropa and Honne that would act as a natural boundary, he said.