Preferred over private: Govt school in Moga presents lesson for others
ONCE SURROUNDED BY FILTH, THE SCHOOL’S MODERNISATION BEGAN WHEN A NEW PRINCIPAL TOOK CHARGE; NRI HELP TOO LENT PUSH
A science park, a reverse osmosis (RO) system, a science lab, a mathematics lab, an airconditioned computer room, a library and a cultural lab. These are the things we generally do not find in a government school and that too in Punjab’s countryside.
Government Senior Secondary School, Khosa Pando, 6 kilometres from the district headquarters, which has all these facilities, is giving a run for money to private schools in the area. Many families from adjoining villages prefer to get their wards admitted here.
Not only this, the 15-room school, over 3 acres, has basketball and badminton courts on its premises. A concrete dining table was constructed to accommodate over 60 students to have mid-day meal. The school also has skill development centre with courses in computers and embroidery.
ONCE GARBAGE SURROUNDED IT
But things were not always like this. Once surrounded by garbage, the school’s modernisation began when Gurdarshan Singh Brar took charge as school principal in 2009. And Brar made the school what it is today in his seven-and-half-year tenure.
“I saw garbage dumped outside the school gate when I entered the school for the first time. Then I made my mind to upgrade the school,” Brar said.
“After getting all the garbage removed, I got trees planted and built with a boundary wall. With the help of villagers, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and the government, I have tried to bring it on par with best of the schools. There were 300 students when I joined the school. The figure has now increased to 450,” he said.
Bakshinder Singh, a schoolteacher, “Our students have got into meritorious and Navodaya schools. But this year, our Class 12 result was not up to the mark.”
SCIENCE PARK A CENTRE OF ATTRACTION
The school science park is equipped with large science models to help students understand the concepts of gravity, sound, speed, weight and time among others.
Brar said once he went to a local convent school and found some interesting science models lying in its storeroom.
He requested the school to hand over these models to him and they agreed. He installed them at the school.