From dull yellow to vibrant blue, this Faridkot school dons a new look
FARIDKOT : With an aim to attract more students, classrooms of the Government High School at Wara Bhai Ka village in Faridkot district have been painted like rail coaches. The dull yellow walls of the school have been painted vibrant blue.
The inspiration came after the school authorities saw pictures of Government Senior Secondary School, Alwar, in Rajasthan, which has also been turned into a railway station.
In June 2018, the panchayat of Wara Bhai Ka village, 35km from Faridkiot on the Bathinda-Amritsar National Highway, with the help of school staff painted seven classrooms as train coaches with a cost of ₹3.5 lakh. The veranda serves as a platform where students hang out.
The school has been included in the smart school scheme of the Punjab education department and teaches science and mathematics in English medium. There are 200 students and 16 teachers in the school.
Hindi teacher Jasvir Singh, who was overseeing the painting project, said: “We have seven classrooms in a row, S1 to S7, which have been painted as train coaches. We also visited the Jaitu railway station and made some modifications in the school design.”
“The train encourages students to move ahead in life to achieve their goal with hard work. Students are always fascinated with the idea of travelling on a train. Most of government school buildings are considered boring, leading to lack of interest in children, we thought of renovating the school into a colourful train,” said Singh.
The village panchayat had surplus funds in the fag end of tits tenure (all panchayat bodies in the state were dissolved on July 17, polls for which would be held on September 30) so, it was decided to spend the money to renovate the school, he said. The construction of three parks is underway in the school, which are sponsored by Jaitu-based trader, said Singh.
School in-charge Shavinder Kaur said: “We are hopeful to attract more children from the nearby villages and make it a model school.”
District education officer (secondary) Baljit Kaur Brar lauded the efforts of the school staff and panchayat. “The education department is allocating more funds to smart schools to provide quality education,” said Brar.