As was said in this space on Thursday schools can’t only be about the “three Rs — reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic”.

In our increasingly complex, challenging environment school has to be a place at which children are so socialised that they have added opportunities of becoming responsible adults capable of positive contribution to their community and country.

And, in addition to traditional academics, school has to be where technical skills are honed to cope in a world that is more and more reliant on evolving methodologies.

Hence our pleasure at news of a technology-driven agricultural project at Papine High School involving a greenhouse hydroponic system which uses layers of nutrient-rich water to grow plants.

The project was sponsored by Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) at a cost of US$25,000 under its small grants programme.

Papine High is said to be the first school in the Caribbean to receive a grant from CCRIF for an initiative of this type.

The joyous wonderment of sixth-former, 4-H club member, and aspiring farmer Mr Terome Rookwood, who told our reporter that he grew up mainly in agriculture, is infectious.

Said he: “[I]t’s a wonderful experience to know that with hydroponics you can grow things without soil… it’s a wonderful advance in the growing process of agriculture… and it’s a wonderful area to venture into, knowing that [for] a lot of people who have limited land space to plant, doing hydroponics will give them a benefit…”

We applaud the selfless ambition and vision of Papine High School Principal Mr Leighton Christie in recognising the potential of a “high quality facility” that will boost not only his school but others in the Corporate Area at secondary and primary levels.

“These facilities we have here, as we grow, we [want to be] growing in a way that students can come and benefit from it,” Mr Christie is reported as saying.

In addition to providing economic opportunities for school and community, Mr Christie says the project will “…equip students with an understanding of modern agricultural technology” and evolving farm-production practices.

That ties in with Agriculture Minister Floyd Green’s plans to engage more teachers dedicated to agriculture and “to help them with their school farms”. And, says Mr Green, to “work with CCRIF” to put in more [school] projects such as the hydroponic facility at Papine High. That’s “so that our students are not learning agriculture of 10 years ago, but they’re learning agriculture for now”.

In the case of Papine High, which only last September was taken off the much-criticised shift system, it probably helps that the wider community still has strong deep-rural farm linkages, despite the rapid urban spread. We believe we can safely say that many of the students at Papine are like sixth former Mr Rookwood, blessed with a powerful link to agriculture.

He tells us that, “Agriculture is like being a part of nature itself… you get that physical aspect and you can make a lot of money from it… especially in a world where agriculture is now changing.”

That positive attitude and fondness for the farm is something all those with influence should encourage to the hilt. That’s especially important, bearing in mind the escalating uncertainties in the wider world which, sooner or later, may well undermine Jamaica’s food security.