Free trip for Alwar ‘train school’ students to rail museum
Students of Alwar’s Government Senior Secondary School, Railway Station, will get a free trip to National Rail Museum in New Delhi in July, said a senior officer of the North Western Railway who visited the school on May 8.
The classrooms of this school have been painted like passenger compartments, the principal’s office looks like an engine, and the veranda is the “platform”, where students hang out.
Following a Hindustan Times report on the innovation, the school has seen a steady stream of visitors.
The deputy chief environment and housekeeping manager of the NWR was one of them. Shashi Kiran visited the school on Tuesday and was so impressed with the initiative to make the drab school building colourful and attractive that he called director of the rail museum in Delhi and got the offer for the students.
“The school and the education department have done its bit to popularize Indian rail. They deserve this in return,” said Kiran. In the school visitors’ book, he wrote: “It was indeed a pleasure to see the exact replica of (a) train and stations displayed by beautiful painting in the school.”
School principal Purshottam Gupta said he got a call from the rail museum for the same. “The school is closed for summer vacation. We will initiate correspondence for the offer when the school reopens in July,” he said.
The principal said such visits improve the learning approach in students.
Meanwhile, the district education department is preparing a report on the innovation for Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD). “We will send the report to the MHRD by end of this month,” said Ved Prakash Gupta, additional district education officer (secondary).
“Such innovations need to be replicated for the government schools to become more attractive. Of course, the quality of education also needs to be in focus but a good infrastructure can reduce drop-out rate and increase enrolments,” he added.
The transformation of the school began two months when junior engineer of district Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Rajesh Lawania saw a school in Kerala painted like a rail coach.
SSA is a government programme aimed at providing free elementary education to children between the age of six and 14. Funds are also provided for upkeep and construction of classrooms.
The classrooms of the Alwar school, upgraded to senior secondary this April, have been painted to look like a train. The boundary wall looks like a goods train. The switch from dull yellow walls to vibrant blue has been made possible by RDNC Mittal Foundation that adopted the school four years ago.
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