Each time one thinks of a government school, old structures and unclean spaces flash through one’s mind. What does it take to lift a government school from its pathetic state? A positive attitude and community involvement will work wonders, affirm teachers of the Government Primary School (GPS), New Bhoiguda.
Thanks to contributions from Vysya Youth Association and efforts of employees of Deloitte, GPS Bhoiguda got the much-needed facelift. And teachers too played a major role in it, said Ch. Showry, the headmaster who “re-dedicated” the refurbished school here on Friday. The school has come a long way from 2009 when a new set of teachers took over the responsibilities, Mr. Showry says. “Our progress can be gauged from the fact that the strength has increased from a mere 70 students to 280 over the last few years, and most of it came from surrounding private schools.” He added that the developments could be attributed to the help from the government and involvement of community members.
“We realised that the school cannot be maintained on only the Rs. 15,000 paid by the government every year. The Vysya Youth Association played a key role by providing raw material for redecoration along with educational games that a government school cannot hope to acquire on its own,” he says.
Apart from the infrastructure, Mr. Showry and his team had to tackle with the bad reputation that government schools are usually associated with. “Parents do not prefer to send their children to government schools due to their image. We had to conduct seminars and contact programmes to convince parents that their children can get better education here,” he explains.
The refurbished school has a colourful pre-primary block and a decorated main building much to the delight of the students. “There is need to raise money to bring these changes… students should be taught about fund-raising,” says M. Nirmala Mary, a teacher.
