Inside a classroom at the 112-year-old Government Muslim High School, an English teacher is revising grammar lessons. Over 30 boys listen to her in rapt attention, breaking their silence only to clarify doubts.
With the Class X Board examinations just a month away, such revision classes are going to be frequent and also get longer.
“We are confident of getting cent per cent results. Last year, we missed it by a whisker. We however managed seven centum results in science and five in social studies,” says Haleema Javeed, head of the institution.
Seventy two girls and boys will appear for the Board examinations this year. This is a huge jump from last year when 36 students from the school appeared for the Boards, for the first time in 14 years.
This school, spread across two acres and tucked away inside the narrow and congested Thyar Sahib Street, off Anna Salai, was on the verge of closure in 2007. Students left the school, seeking English medium education. Only three students were on its rolls in 2007. The Parent Teacher Association took over the school in 2008 and effected many changes, one of them was the switchover to English medium with Tamil as second language and Urdu and Arabic as additional languages.
“The school did not have electricity, sewerage and water connections, and the buildings were crumbling,” says M. Afsar Basha, president of the PTA.
Forty full-time teachers were appointed by the management. “In 2010-11, the strength of the school was 140. It gradually improved and in 2013-14, we had 572 students. Today, we have 800 students,” says Haleema. The trophies at her room shows the school has won various competitions.
Bringing the school back from the brink was not easy.
“We even picked up a few children from the pavements and enrolled them. Most of the amenities in the school were possible because of help from philanthropists. Recently, the MLA of harbour constituency announced Rs. 50 lakh from his benefit fund,” says Afsar Basha, a resident of Triplicane. The school has robotics class, digital aids and other extra-curricular activities, which private schools boast of. The women’s wing of the PTA has also pitched in by installing fans and improving the quality of toilets.
Next, the PTA wants to upgrade the school to higher secondary status.
