This school has no holidays
Rajasthan govt school has been functioning without any weekly holidays, festival breaks and summer or winter vacation for 2 yrs
JAIPUR: Teachers in a government school in Rajasthan’s Alwar district are on a mission to teach children to excel. The school remains open 365 days a year including Sundays and the summer and winter vacations.
The teachers hold extra classes on holidays for students of classes 9, 10 and 11 to help them overcome weaknesses and make them competitive in exams.
The teachers take mock exams, revision of syllabus and clarification of doubts.
The two year hard work is giving results.
In 2015-16, a class 10 student came in state merit. And 20 students from class 10 scored first divisions.
UJOLI (ALWAR): All work and no play— does it make Jack a dull boy? Not at least in this government school in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
For the past two years, the school has been running 365 days a year without any breaks. There have been no weekly holidays, festival breaks and summer and winter vacations. Far from being worn out, students of the Shahid Balwant Singh Government Model Senior Secondary School in Ujoli village are thriving under the no-break schedule, redefining the popular English adage.
On holidays, teachers take extra classes for the students of Classes 9, 10 and 11 in a bid to plug their weaknesses. Tests, revision and clarification of doubts are done in these classes.
The hard work is paying dividend. In the 2015-16 Board examination, a Class 10 student of the school figured in the state merit list while over 20 got first division. The success continued in the 2016-17 Class 10 exams, where one student scored above 90%, five crossed the 80% mark and 30 earned first division.
The first-of-its-kind initiative is the brainchild of maths teacher Nihal Singh.
But the transformation was not easy. “Initially, only 15 students attended the extra classes. But because of Nihal sir’s persistent efforts, things started to change and in 2015-16, all students of Classes 9 and 10 started attending,” said social science teacher Jitendra Singh Yadav.
“In villages, students lack guidance, which affects their performance. In school hours, we can focus on completing syllabus and for extra efforts, holidays are used,” he added.
At a time when the state education department is contemplating various measures to improve the performance of government schools, this school is giving tough competition to even private schools. Two private schools in the vicinity downed shutters recently as their students joined here, Yadav said.
“I heard and even our neighbours told my parents that studies here are better than private schools. So I joined this school,” said Ritu, a Class 10 student.
The extra classes start at 9am and get over around noon. At least two to three teachers hold extra classes on holidays.
Apart from showing good results in Board examinations, the initiative has also changed the mindset. “A teacher took a day’s leave to attend a marriage. But he came to take a class as he got two hours free,” principal Babu Lal Yadav said.
Yadav, who joined the school in June this year, said, “Here, students study on their own and complete homework on time. This was not the case where I was posted earlier.”
But what about family time? “Initially, family members objected but later they understood and started appreciating our mission” said another teacher Vijay Kumar.
More importantly, even students do not raise objections.
Akash Kumar of Class 10 said the initiative had improved their performance. “The teachers are doing good work and are making extra efforts for our children. They love going to school on holidays. Their future will be bright,” said a Class 9 student’s mother.
Commenting on the initiative, district education officer Veer Singh Beniwal said, “Due to the unprecedented dedication of the teachers, even enrolments have improved. We have assured the school of all help.”