Alwar school gets classrooms that look like a train
JAIPUR: It is 8am. Students race each other to grab the best seats in the dark blue coaches that have come to define Indian Railways. Some hang out of the compartments, egging on the laggards to join them.
Alwar’s Government Senior Secondary School, Railway Station, takes its name quite literally. Here the classrooms have been painted like passenger compartments, the principal’s office looks like an engine and the veranda is the “platform”, where students hang out. “Children are always fascinated by trains and enjoy travelling in them. Government school buildings need to become attractive for students to have a sense of pride,” principal Purushottam Gupta said, voicing a common concern about students increasingly opting for private schools.
Class 8 student Jassi Kaur can’t wait to get to school. “We haven’t spent much time in the new-look classrooms because the paint work got over when our exams began. We will have more fun in the next session,” she said. The new session begins May 1.
Just to be clear, the school is not situated on a railway station. When it started, it was barley 50 metres from the station and ran from a heritage building. Some year ago, the school shifted to a housing board colony two km away but the name stuck. The rail theme inspiration, however, came from down south and not the neighbourhood.
Two months ago, when junior engineer of district Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Rajesh Lawania saw a government school in Kerala painted like a rail coach, he thought of the Alwar school.
SSA is a government programme aimed at providing free elementary education to all kids between the age of six and fourteen.
The switch from dull yellow walls to vibrant blue has been made possible by RDNC Mittal Foundation that adopted the school four years ago. “We have spent close to ₹40 lakh on the construction of new classrooms, toilets and repair of rooftops,” said foundation chairman Dr SC Mittal.