Going against the current trend of parents opting to admit their children in private schools, coughing up huge donations, the residents of this tiny village took it upon themselves to get their children out of private schools and admit them in the government school.
In a move worthy of emulation in rural Telangana, residents of Gopalraopalli in Karimnagar district took the bold initiative of reviving a government school in the village which had been shut down a decade ago.
Of the 54 school going children in the village, 35 turned up at the school on the first day of its resumption on Monday in Gopalraopalli, a tiny village in Gangadhara mandal, about 25 km from Karimnagar. Impressed by the villagers’ enthusiasm, district education department officials also deployed two regular teachers and an attender on deputation basis.
SI’s move turning point
Gangadhara Sub-Inspector Pullaiah’s awareness programme organised in the village was the turning point for the parents, who used to send their children to private schools in the mandal headquarters.
Gopalraopalli primary school, which started in 1980-81, used to run with the highest strength of 190 students. However, the strength of the school gradually began reducing after parents started sending their wards to English medium schools in the nearby town of Gangadhara.
In 2009 the school shut shop due to lack of students, Satyanarayana, a villager, told Telangana Today. Per year, Rs 10,000 was required for the pay fee of a child in a private school, which would be a huge burden for parents if a family had three children, said E Kamala, mother of a student.
So, parents convinced themselves since everything, especially English medium education, for which the parents were sending their wards to private schools was also available in government schools.
Class IV student M Ashvini, who studied up to Class III in a private school in Gangadhara, said she was feeling happy to attend classes in her village school. Her parents used to face difficulties to pay the school fee and there was no fee here.
Another girl, P Anushka remembered that she could not understand lessons as she used to sit along with 40 members in a classroom in a private school. Unlike this, there was limited strength in the local school and they were able to interact with the teacher directly and clear their doubts, she said.
Village sarpanch Nagarapu Jyothi said that with some of the villagers coming forward to reopen the school, she visited each and every house and convinced the parents. After getting consent from parents, she approached the MEO, who promised to provide teachers and infrastructure.
A teacher, A Ravi, said the school was started in an old building by re-painting it, but the condition of the building was not good. More importantly, there were no toilets and there was a need to provide toilet facility.
Courtesy: Telangana Today
