Thoddoo students produce watermelon for Ramadan

Students from AA. Thoddoo are producing watermelons for Ramadan.

Thoddoo, located in central Maldives, is popular for its watermelons.

Ali Kaleem, a leading teacher at the Thoddoo School and the in-charge of the school’s environment club, Green Wave, told Sun on Saturday that the project was launched to teach students the process of production and sale of watermelons.

In addition to watermelons, the school’s students are also producing cucumbers for the upcoming holy month.

Ali said that this year, the project was being run at a smaller scale than originally planned.

“We began this project at a smaller scale this time. We dug only 10 holes for watermelons. And just one row of cucumbers. This is a smaller scale than compared to how this is usually done in this island,” he said.

Ali said that students began planting watermelons in the school’s yard on January 10 – the same day local farmers began growing their produce for the Ramadan.

The students involved in the project are all members of Green Wave.

Ali said the project is receiving huge support from parents as well as students.

“We got a positive response from the parents. The students are also highly interested,” he said.

Ali said that some students come to observe the patch of watermelons and cucumbers on their own, noting down the progress.

Ali said the school aims to market 200 kilos of watermelons, and around 30 kilos of cucumber.

He said that the money raised from the sale of the produced will go to the student’s fund, to be used for various activities for them.

He thanked the school’s support staff, Adam Ali, for his assistance in running the project.

Thoddoo produces hundreds of kilos of watermelon for Ramadan, each year.