A school where ‘PM and his cabinet’ run the day-to-day show
JALANDHAR :Prime Minister and his 15 cabinet ministers have been playing vital role in the functioning of Government Senior Secondary School at Dadhe Fateh Singh village in Hoshiarpur district. In an interesting initiative to make students aware of democratic model and instil a sense of responsibility, teachers conducted polls on the lines of general elections to elect 16 members of Parliament (MPS) in the school.
Students who were elected as MP’S further chose their Prime Minister (PM) through voting among them. Around 600 students from Class 8 to 12 took part in the voting process, in which, a total of 26 students filed their nominations. Of the 26 students, 10 were elected unanimously while students voted for the remaining 16 students and six of them who fetched highest votes were elected.
Election to choose 16 cabinet ministers, including PM, was conducted in August by school teachers. The PM was allocated discipline and sports portfolios. Explaining the cabinet, school principal Salinder Singh, who is also behind the fascinating idea, said there are a total of eight departments in the school cabinet. “Each department—discipline and sports, sanitation, food supply, forest and horticulture, repair and maintenance, water supply, transport and finance— is represented by two ministers, a boy and a girl,” he said.
The school holds meeting of cabinet ministers every Monday in the presence of teachers where discussions or agendas are set for the week and also feedback from the various departments are taken. They also discuss problems or issues of the students during the meeting.
Balwinder Singh, a Class 12 student and PM of the school, said there was a significant improvement on the discipline front in three weeks since the cabinet was formed. “We are making efforts for the overall development of the school and highlighting problems faced by the students’ vis-a-vis school authorities. “Being a Prime Minister of the school is a huge responsibility, as with it comes the task of working with zeal towards the betterment of the school on every front,” said Balwinder.
Similarly, finance minister Ramandeep Kaur revealed that the department imposes fine on the students and teachers who forget to switch off fans and lights, besides they also have to cough up money if dustbins are found overflowing. Elaborating, Kaur said if the fan of principal or staff room is not switched off, we impose ₹50 fine on principal, ₹20 on teachers and ₹10 on the entire class. We collected ₹1,000 in three weeks which will be spent on development of the school.
Sanitation department minister Prabhleen Kaur said she along with her colleague Lovepreet Singh keep eye on the cleanliness of the school, especially prayer ground and classrooms. The transport department of the school takes care of parking-related issues and slaps fine on violators and ensures discipline while commuting on school buses.
Salinder said they have taken the initiative under the ‘Padho Punjab, Padao Punjab’.