Alumni construct 16 classrooms to revive government school at Bantwal

Alumni of a government school in Bantwal gave their alma mater an upgrade of 16 classrooms to save it from a closedown. The construction is near completion and the representatives from the association have invited the governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala to launch the new infrastructure on January 5 and 6, at 2.30 pm.

This is the second phase of the movement to save and nurture government schools at Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Higher Primary School Daddalakadu in Bantwal. The group had first put their hands into the school revival in 2016 when the pupils of the entire school dropped to 30 and the school was pushed to the verge of a close down.-"I was approached to find a teacher for class 1 to 7 and I volunteered to teach. Only then did I see my alma mater in dire straits, ready to be shut in the next academic year,-" said State president of the movement, Prakash Anchan.

Anchan got together his friends and relatives in an emergency meeting and in 24 hours injected their children to the school, including his own. The numbers, he said, were risen to 56, and the school saved. In 2017, Anchan said, another obstacle came their way when the group tried to introduce English language textbooks. "While there was no problem for kindergartens, the government did not permit the distribution of textbooks to classes 1-5," he said, as what had come as opposition to English in government schools.

He said over the years, the group spent Rs 2.20 crore on the infrastructure of the school and gave it 8 classrooms which were inaugurated by union minister late Anant Kumar. Part of the school which was in dilapidated condition was demolished and the 16 classrooms are now built, said Anchan. Now the school has 500 students, and in its third phase, will build 11 classrooms where the vice president will be called to inaugurate, he added.