Tent school to keep Dasara mahouts’ children busy

A makeshift school has come up on the palace premises

For a cause: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait after the inauguration of a tent school on the palace premises in Mysuru on Monday. Special Arrangement

The children of mahouts and kavadis of Dasara elephants, currently camping on the Mysuru palace premises, will not miss their schools for accompanying their parents and relatives to Mysuru to be part of the Dasara festivities which begins from September 21. Reason: A makeshift school (tent school) has come up on the palace premises to ensure that the children don’t miss their classes and eventually dropout of schools because of their “temporary migration”. This school will run for 40 days.

An initiative of the Department of Public Instruction, a teacher has been posted to the school who will be taking classes for the children as per the curriculum with regard to their class.

A tent library has also been set up to inculcate the habit of reading among the children, mahouts, kavadis, and other members in the families.

The Department of Public Libraries and City Central Library have set up the tent school.

The children are part of the government-run ashram schools run in tribal settlements across Mysuru and Kodagu districts. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait inaugurated the school on Monday. The inaugural function was scheduled for 5.30 p.m. but it was delayed by almost two hours with the Minister arriving late.

About 20 children have accompanied their parents and relatives who arrived with the first batch of elephants from their respective camps recently.

Another 20 children may join the school soon as another batch of elephants is expected to arrive here shortly. Deputy Director of Public Instruction B.K.S. Vardhan said the tent school would help children continue with their schooling without any break. Under the “Book for all”, the library is expected to reach out to children and enlighten them on various subjects. Around 2,000 books, mostly containing attractive illustrations, story books, and biographies will be made available at the tent library. Even newspapers and children magazines will be placed which the kids can borrow free of cost, the authorities said. The library will be kept open from 9.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Volunteers and researchers from the Library Department, University of Mysore, will be part of the initiative. City Central Library Deputy Director B. Manjunath said the library philosophy is to serve all. Library is the backbone of every school. About 32 activities will also be conducted in the next 40 days on handling books.