The Government Primary and Higher Secondary School in the sleepy Anemadugu village in Shidlaghatta taluk of Chikkaballapura district basks in the glory of 100% pass in the SSLC examinations. Two of its students also scored above 90%.
The school teachers proudly proclaim that 16 out of 30 of their students scored first division marks in the SSLC in this remote village, 17 km from Shidlaghatta town, where electricity plays hide and seek on a regular basis. Assisting parents in their household chores, farming and poverty are other major roadblocks these socially and economically weaker students face.
Anemadugu is among the 24 villages in the district seeing a refreshing change, thanks to 'Gift a Thousand Lights' campaign involving some NGOs, corporates and philanthropists, which has become a large scale movement in the entire district.
Power cuts are very frequent and long, lasting almost seven to eight hours a day (sometimes 15 hours too) – in remote villages of the district.
About the programme
Under this programme, students are provided solar lamps which they need to bring to the school every alternate day for charging. This compels students to remain anchored with the school for want of light.
It all started from village Muthuru in Shidlaghatta taluk when an NGO Namma Muthuru started a drive with a focus on improving the education scenario there.
Usha Shetty of Namma Muthuru recalls, “Seven years ago, Namma Muthuru drive began with a focus on the overall development of students in the government school.”
Later, other organisations like Power of 10, One Good Step, Menda Foundation, Selco Foundation and a few others too tied up, she says.
In December 2015, ‘Gift a Thousand Lights’ was launched and by June 1, 200 lamps were available for 24 schools across the four taluks of the district.
Anemadugu school teacher Krishnamurthy explains, “Due to the solar lamp, students cannot cite power cuts as a reason to avoid home work. These lamps have eventually increased their efficiency academically. It has also encouraged teachers to put in more efforts. The change is evident.”
Nagarathna, Kannada subject inspector in the office of the deputy director of public instruction in Chikkaballapura endorses Krishnamurthy's viewpoint: “Performance of the students across the district has improved remarkably.”
These lamps are the property of the school and once the students pass the Class X examination, they have to return it to the school for their juniors.
Transfer certificates of students who do not return the lamp are held back. The schools also charges Rs 100 per student as a security deposit against the lamp which costs about Rs 1,600. The money is deposited in a bank account, jointly held by the school principal and any villager. The money is utilised to maintain the lamps.
Published 03 July 2016, 19:40 IST