According to him, the school is earning well from the sale of mushrooms being grown in the classrooms. So far, it has sold around 300 kg of mushrooms at the local market and their demand is very high.
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A leading school in Bihar has started mushroom farming in its vacant classrooms after the closure of schools due to Corona-induced lockdown destroyed it financially.
The school is earning a handsome amount from this new idea and has now decided to continue with the business even after the classrooms are reopened.
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Mani Dweep Academy, a primer residential public school in Jamui district, ran into severe financial crisis when the government enforced lockdown in March to check the spread of Covid19. Prior to lockdown, the school had three sources of income ~ school fees; renting out residential premises to students for their stay and food being served to them.
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But all sources of income dried up at once following closure of the schools for the past six months. The school has 1,400 students and 30 classrooms. With revenue collection turning negligible and the school administration battling hard to pay salaries to the teachers and other staff, it decided to do something to generate revenue.
“I extensively searched for ideas which could get us good money quickly, and finally we settled for mushroom farming since it required limited movements and space. We soon started mushroom farming in our vacant classroom,” school director Abhishek Kumar told The Statesman over the phone.
According to him, the school is earning well from the sale of mushrooms being grown in the classrooms. So far, it has sold around 300 kg of mushrooms at the local market and their demand is very high.
“The situation is such that we are unable to meet the demand for mushrooms in the local markets,” the director said.
The school now plans to produce 1,000 kg of mushroom per month. A good quality mushroom sells around Rs250 a kg.
With mushroom farming earning good profit, the school administration has decided to continue with the business.
They have selected the spot for its farming and was going to start the business on a bigger scale.
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