THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as five students, who passed the Finishing School Programme of the Directorate of Vocational Higher Secondary Education (VHSE), would soon turn promoters of the City Corporation’s decentralised solid waste management project. The students have entered into a tie-up with an NGO to manage waste management in homesteads and apartments, turn biodegradable waste into organic manure and support terrace gardens in these places. The Finishing School Programme was launched by the VHSE with the support of the Agriculture University to enhance the employability of VHSE students and to promote them as agri-preneurs. It is the first batch students of the Finishing School, who passed out recently, which has come up with three core areas to find an occupation. While one group would support the ‘waste disposal at the source’ programme, another group would engage in nursery management and lawn-making and yet another group in mushroom production. The group which is into waste management is learnt to have entered into an agreement with residents’ associations, through which they would take up the waste disposal issues of 3,500 homes in the city. ‘’The Agriculture University has handed over technologies to them and given them training in waste management. Either through composting method or using the technologies they are adept in, they will take up waste management in these places and turn the degradable waste into organic manure,’’ said Dr Motilal Nehru, Assistant Director, Extension, and the Project Leader of the Finishing School, College of Agriculture. The organic manure thus produced would come in handy for the group which would promote terrace gardens and farming. The group has the support of the State Horticulture Mission in the project. The second group who are into nursery management had visited the TBGRI Palode and botanical garden Kuzhipallam to study the methods and even conducted an exhibition on the ornamental plant saplings. The third group which is into mushroom production has tied up with Koonpura, an NGO, to get started. According to officials, the group participated in the food and industries exhibition held in the city recently to expand their knowledge on the project. ‘’Our aim was to give them agri-based vocational training and to equip them to stand on their own feet once the training and the internship get over,’’ said VHSE Director M Abdul Rehman The project is currently being implemented in three centres - College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Centre for e-learning, KAU Vellanikkara and College of Agriculture, Padannakkad.
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