This govt schoolteacher sets an example

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 14

While most of the government elementary school principals in the state are looking for financial aid from the state government to convert their schools into smart schools, the efforts of this schoolteacher have bore fruitful results. Rajminder Kaur, a single teacher at Government Elementary School, Dhakwala, Kasel, has give a shape of a ‘smart school’ to it.

For the past one year, she is running the school on her own. As no assistance is being provided to her from the State Education Department, she is utilising her salary into transforming the school into a ‘smart school’. When the much-hyped ‘smart school’ project of the Education Department got affected due to fund crunch, her ‘self-made smart school’ has become an example for other schools.

Being located in the border area district, the school was once ordered to be closed by the Education Secretary due to unavailability of students. However, the continuous efforts of Rajminder bore fruitful results. At present, there are around 25 students studying in the school from Classes I to V. Besides, with the help of ‘Each one bring one’ campaign she has enrolled around eight children in the school.

Though not all technical equipment (advanced technology, tools and other content for learning by using latest media presentations) have been installed in the school to make it a smart one, she is using her laptop and a computer to make aware the students about e-learning and computer applications.

She said when the secretary had directed to close the school, she requested the authorities to let her run the school as there were many children in the area who don’t go to schools. Hence, after gaining positive response from the authorities, she started running the school and through continuous efforts, she transformed the Dhakwala school, making it on a par with smart schools.

She has also made a small library in the school for the benefit of the children who did not have books. Besides, to prevent the children from taking admission in private schools, she has also made arrangements for yoga, music and art and craft classes. There is also a smart classroom which provides the facility of audio-video aids according to the syllabus.

Rajminder said her next aim was to enrol maximum number of children into the school and local communities, NGOs and NRIs have been asked to lend her help so that the school could be equipped with digital monitors, high-speed internet facilities, projectors, tablets, state-of-the-art laboratories and infrastructure for sports activities.

Smart school co-ordinator for the Tarn Taran district border schools Amandeep Singh said its solely due to the determined efforts of Rajminder that Government Elementary School, Dhakwala, was now among the only two smart schools of the district.