KARTHIK MADHAVAN
A headmistress and a teacher in a two-teacher school, using personal funds, make the place welcome space for children.
When S. Agila took charge in 2004 as Headmistress, Government Elementary School, Karaipalayam, little did she realise that the new assignment would be different. The same was true of N. Malathi, appointed a few days later as the second teacher in the two-teacher school, which is about 45 km from the textile town of Erode in Tamil Nadu.
The teachers began teaching outside the classrooms because, save two classrooms, a noon-meal kitchen and toilet, the school had nothing else.
“When we set foot in the school, all that was there was the buildings. What was not there was a clean environment, for, knee-high grass and thorny bushes had islanded the buildings,” says Ms. Malathi.
The Headmistress adds, “The challenge was not just the bushes. We had to grapple with snakes from the bushes that often inspected classrooms; the villagers as well as students defecating in the open using the bush cover; and, also the school premises being used as a thoroughfare for cattle grazing.” In short it was a total mess.
The first lesson
Given the untidy surroundings, the teachers began their first lesson in cleanliness from the school ground. “The Headmistress employed labourers to remove the shrubs, clean the ground, and then followed it up with a makeshift fence,” says Malathi.
She and the Headmistress did not stop there. “After cleaning the ground and deciding to beautify the place, we raised plants, including fruit and vegetable bearing ones,” she adds. The teachers, not the Government, financed the work.
Today, the fruits of their labour are there for everybody to see. The campus is clean, the trees have grown to provide a green cover to the campus and there is no litter. The plants bear vegetables, which are used in the noon meal for the children.
In the process, the students have learnt their lessons. Ms. Agila attributes the clean upkeep of the campus to students. “It is because of them,” she says. And the students only seem to recognise the work.
“After the teachers beautified our campus, they taught us that maintaining it was our duty. Now, we don’t throw waste around. And, if we spot any in the campus, we ensure that the next moment it is in the bin,” says S. Manoj Kumar, a Class V student.
The teachers then moved on to the next lesson in health and environment by building a compound wall, which again was built with very little help from the Government. The school required a wall only in the front and rear, and the help for constructing the front portion came from a local sponsor.
Beyond duty
As for the rear, the teachers pooled in from their salary as well as savings. And in this they received help from unexpected quarters: a noon-meal worker and two helpers contributed their salaries.
“We too wanted to contribute because we’ve seen what the teachers have done for the school — they have transformed it from a barren land to a garden. And, after all it is our school as well,” says S. Vasantha, one of the two workers.
The workers did not stop there. While one of them cooks, the other waters the plants and assists in the general up-keep of the school. In all, the teaching and non-teaching staff raised around Rs. 35,000 for the wall.
As for the lessons, the students continued to have it outside the classrooms. This time, though, it was on personal hygiene, for, most of the 45 students went to school without brushing and bathing. The teachers recall the students coming to school straight from their beds. “Most students’ parents, who work either as casual labourers or in knitwear industries in neighbouring Tirupur, leave home before the kids get up and return only after dark, forcing the kids to lead a savage life.”
To set right the situation, the teachers not only highlighted the benefits of personal hygiene but also bathed the boys on a couple of occasions. In the words of Ms. Agila: “Once, we took a group of students to the school bathroom to teach them how to bathe. And, thereafter, things are fine. Today, not a single student attends class without bathing.” In this they also summoned the parents to counsel them.
Laudable effort
The teachers and support staff have more to their credit like undertaking the construction of an additional toilet for boys, building a stage using the cement saved, etc. Asked about the reason for undertaking work beyond their call of duty, Ms. Agila and Ms. Malathi say, “We consider it to be our school and the students our children. If we don’t, who else will? And, there is no better way to demonstrate our care by taking on such work to better their lives.”
The results are telling. Almost all the villagers acknowledge the fact that the school has improved by leaps and bounds since the teachers assumed charge. Erode Collector T. Udhayachandran, who recently visited the school, appreciated the teachers and said there could be no better environment for the students to learn.
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