A creative idea and persistent effort can go a long way in increasing admissions to a government school. The Government Higher Primary Hindustani School at Nagur, Kirimanjeshwara, in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district exemplifies this.
Two years ago this school had only 18 students, and the headmaster, Vishwanath Poojary, decided to paint the school like a train drawing inspiration when he saw another school in Kerala painted like a train on the Internet. He invested his own money of ₹36,000 and with the help of teachers, got the school painted as a train in January 2018. This made the school a ‘selfie’ point.
However, when students passed class seven, the strength declined to eight students in 2018-19. Then, the push was for change beyond the cosmetic. A School Development Committee (SDC) was formed with representatives from the Old Students’ Association, School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC), local Panchayat members and the headmaster as its members.
The collective efforts of the SDC led to the collection of donation of ₹21 lakh. They managed to buy a van at a cost of ₹9 lakh and also furniture for the school. The school began LKG and UKG sections in the 2019-20 academic year. As a result of all the implemnted measures, the school’s strength jumped to 83 in 2019-20.
The SDC acquired additional books to teach spoken English to the students. The van picks them from their homes to the school. “Our efforts have paid off and now we have 83 students. We started our admissions for next academic year this month. Already 35 students have got admitted. This number will surely go up. We expect to cross a strength of 100 for the the 2020-21 academic year,” Mr. Poojary said.
This school, established in 1973, will be celebrating its golden jubilee in 2023. It now has four government teachers and two additional teachers paid by the SDC. “Our target is reach 250 students in 2023. We are confident of surpassing even this target,” said Mr. Poojary.
“Mr. Poojary and the SDC rose to the occasion when the student strength of the school was declining,” said Abdul Raoof, Block Resource Centre Coordinator.
