When Mr. R. Karthik, Block Education Officer (Coonoor), enrolled his eldest daughter in the Nanjanad Panchayat Union Primary School near Udhagamandalam, it represented a huge turnaround in fortunes for the school.
From having a student strength of just 16 children just a few years ago, the initiatives taken by the local villagers to modernize the school has led to a steady increase in student numbers. As of 2019, 142 students were getting their education at the school, with their strength expected to increase once again this year.
Mr. Karthik, speaking to The Hindu, said that he, along with other residents of Nanjanad, who had studied at the school, had been saddened by the drop in student strength at the institution. “Many of us feared that the school might be closed down and decided to save it,” he said.
A door-to-door campaign to enrol eligible students was launched, and parents were asked about what measures to be taken so that they could send their children to the school. As most of them wanted their children to study in schools where the medium of instruction was English, the group decided to employ teachers who could speak, write and teach the lessons in English.
“We now have seven teachers who are paid for by the parents of the children,” said Mr. Karthik.
An educational trust has been formed by the parents to cover the expenses of hiring the teachers, and to pay for transporting the kids to and from school and for also purchasing additional produce for the children’s noon meals. The cost of these additional facilities comes to around ₹1 lakh each month, and so the parents of each child enrolled at the school pay the school₹1,000 a month, said local residents.
“The government is doing the most it can to make affordable education possible. However, getting local communities involved in keeping the schools thriving and relevant will ensure that our village schools will keep functioning and there won’t be a need to send our children to private schools,” said Mr. Karthik.
