A look at the GVMC Primary School (II) at China Waltair and it would suggest that it is no less than any top-class corporate or private school so far the infrastructure is concerned. The school has a sprawling a multi-facility playground with a cricket pitch.
Living up to the idea of providing quality education in a good environment, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has identified four schools in its limit to give teh campuses a major facelift as part of the Smart City project. And the idea of renovation is not all about painting the buildings and repairing the toilets, but creating a host of features matching with any corporate school.
The four schools identified for the facelift include GVMC Primary School (II) at China Waltair, KDPM High School in East Point Colony, Jalaripeta Primary School and China Waltair Primary School (II). “The works undertaken in the first three campuses are over. The project undertaken at the China Waltair Primary School (II) is apace,” said Smart City Manager G. Anand Rao.
Future plans
Now, the four ‘smart schools’ have digital classrooms and state-of-the-art audio-visual aids. “The students have access to online teaching modules on par with any corporate school,” says Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan, who is also the Managing Director and CEO of the Smart City project.
The four schools have well-equipped playgrounds. The China Waltiar school has a cricket pitch and kabbadi arena. The KDPM High School in East Point Colony has a volleyball court. The schools have full-fledged play kits with proper play arena for holistic development of children, says Mr. Ananda Rao.
New and modern toilets have been constructed and the buildings have been refurbished and painted. All the four schools have self-sustainable roof-top solar power plants.
There are 144 schools in the GVMC limit. As many as 38 digital classrooms have already been installed at various campuses and tenders have been called for the works at 77 schools more. After completing the project, the civic body is planning to undertake the works at the schools in Anakapalle and Bheemunipatnam.
Funding matters
Referring to the funding for the projects, the officials say that sanctions have been made basing on the requirement and extent of land available. For the China Waltair (I) School, ₹1.37 crore have been sanctioned while the same for the KDPM High School, Jalaripeta Primary School and China Waltair Primary School (II) are ₹1.28 crore, ₹86 lakh and ₹36 lakh respectively.
