KUALA LUMPUR – A Setapak primary school’s out of the box approach to disciplining its pupils has succeeded in yielding multiple gains for the institution.
Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Jalan Ayer Panas’ urban farming initiative called Cityfarm has almost completely resolved the school’s disciplinary issues, mainly pertaining to pupils coming to school late. Not only that, its successful cultivation of rock melon using the fertigation system has garnered the attention of various other institutions.
“Cityfarm is a two-in-one initiative. It teaches our pupils to be disciplined and also (gives them the opportunity to) learn about agriculture. In fact, some of them have even started gardening at home. Their parents and the local community here have also shown interest in the programme and are involved in it as well.
“Apart from that, the farm is also generating an income for our school through the sale of our produce and the consulting fees we impose on those (outsiders) seeking our guidance on the fertigation technique used by us,” shared teacher Ibrahim Ismail who was responsible for initiating the Cityfarm project.
Located just 10 kilometres from the Petronas Twin Towers, SK Jalan Ayer Panas uses the returns from the farm to meet the educational needs of its underprivileged pupils residing in some of the nearby People’s Housing Projects (PPR) meant for B40 households.
According to its headmistress Rozalina Razali, the school has an enrolment of 700 with most of the children hailing from B40 families.
“In terms of academic achievement, we may not be able to compete with other schools in the capital city. But we are proud because these days whenever SK Jalan Ayer Panas is mentioned, people will immediately think of its farm.
“In terms of tackling the issue of latecomers, as far as we’re concerned even if a pupil arrives at 7.28 am (the school session starts at 7.30 am), we would still say our ‘punishment in the form of learning’ approach has been successful in disciplining latecomers,” she said.
Starting with cucumber
Relating how the idea of starting a farm as a ‘punishment in the form of learning’ for latecomers came about, Ibrahim said as the school’s disciplinary teacher he was initially at a loss for an effective solution to address the issue.
“After I was transferred from Sabah to this school in 2015, I was quite taken aback by the lack of discipline, particularly when it came to coming to school on time. I racked my brain to think of an effective way to instil discipline in the pupils because I didn’t want it to merely serve as a punishment but to motivate them to come to school.
“That’s when I came up with the idea of starting a farm and ‘punishing’ latecomers by getting them to work there. Thankfully, the school head and teachers fully supported my proposal,” he said.
Kicking off in 2016, the farming project was initially dubbed ‘Don’t Be Late’ or ‘Donbel’ in short and was aimed at habitual latecomers who were made to work on the farm before the school session started.
“This way, their classes were not disrupted. In the beginning, as expected, they didn’t like the activity but later on when it was time to harvest whatever they had cultivated, they grew excited,” said Ibrahim, who has served as an educator for 26 years.
The Bahasa Malaysia teacher said they got the project off the ground by cultivating 75 polybags of cucumbers using the fertigation method.
“At that point, our main intention was to instil discipline in the children. Later I felt it would be better if we switched to planting crops that can generate an income for our school. After doing some research, I found that rock melons were capable of providing satisfactory returns,” he added.
Advisory services, funding
Ibrahim said they sought the advisory services of KMK Agro Global Sdn Bhd, the Department of Agriculture Putrajaya and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) as well as received funding from Edana Delight Bakery to get started on their rock melon cultivation in 2019.
“We began with 200 rock melon plants. Now we have 350 plants growing on a plot measuring 30 feet by 80 feet, which we are cultivating using the fertigation system,” he explained.
The melons harvested at Cityfarm are eagerly snapped up by buyers, with demand outstripping supply.
“In terms of marketing, we don’t face any problem because our melons are purchased by the local community and the teachers themselves. Cityfarm is also collaborating with the Ali Maju Sdn Bhd restaurant chain and several other restaurants located in the school’s neighbourhood,” he said.
He said the farm’s rock melon cultivation is alternated with other crops such as cucumber, bitter gourd and long bean, depending on the situation.
“The rock melon fruits can usually be harvested 75 days after the seedlings are transferred into the polybags, depending on the type of rock melon plant we are growing. During each harvest, we can collect around 600 kilogrammes,” he said.
He declined to reveal the sales value of the fruits but said they make a profit even though their rock melons are cheaper than those available in the market.
“Our profits are channelled into a fund for the use of the school and the pupils,” he added.
Cityfarm is currently managed by a special committee comprising 10 teachers from the school.
Meanwhile, SK Jalan Ayer Panas’ successful application of the fertigation system has drawn the attention of various organisations and institutions, including several schools in the Klang Valley among them being SK Setiawangsa, SK Seri Bonus, SK Kampung Batu and Sekolah Menengah Telok Panglima Garang.
These schools as well as PPR Gombak, Pusat Wanita Berdaya Ampang and the Fire and Rescue Academy of Malaysia have already embarked on similar projects under the guidance of the Cityfarm committee.
“Currently, we are providing consulting services for a project by the International Islamic University Malaysia at its campus in Gombak involving the cultivation of rock melon using the fertigation system,” Ibrahim said.
SK Jalan Ayer Panas is also proud that Cityfarm is certified by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall as an Urban Community Garden under Local Agenda 21 Kuala Lumpur.
Delegations from several local authorities including Kota Kinabalu City Hall, Sabah, and Pasir Gudang City Council, Johor, have also visited the school to see for themselves the success of the fertigation project.
“In fact, just recently some researchers from MARDI paid us a visit,” he added.
Future plans
Ibrahim also said that like many other success stories, their success did not come easy.
“We too had to endure some hardship initially. When we first started the rock melon cultivation in 2019, our greenhouse structure almost collapsed… we didn’t have funds to carry out repairs and our seedlings were also ready to be transferred (to the polybags).
“After discussing the matter, we decided to use our own money to build a new structure,” he said.
To generate more income for the school fund, Cityfarm started selling rock melon-flavoured ice cream at the end of last year, using an ice cream machine donated by BAP Fruits.
“It’s a new flavour in the local market and so far, the response has been encouraging,” he said.
On their future plans, Ibrahim stressed they will not deviate from the original purpose of creating Cityfarm which is to educate children and inculcate a love for gardening in the local community.
“We (our school) are surrounded by PPR inhabited by people from the low-income group. In today’s situation, any form of savings is much appreciated by this group and this is what we are doing.
“Cultivation by fertigation doesn’t require large spaces, more so if it is for our own use. We are ready to lend a helping hand to the parents of our pupils who wish to increase their income via fertigation farming,” he said.
Ibrahim added that to share its knowledge on fertigation, SK Jalan Ayer Panas regularly participates in carnivals, the next one being KL Festival Park at Tasik Titiwangsa here from March 4 to 11.
“Members of the public are welcome to visit our booth to see our Internet of Things-based fertigation cultivation system and also enjoy rock melon-flavoured ice cream at reasonable prices,” he said.- Bernama
