Rolling stones gather key lessons here

To cater to such children, tent schools are mushrooming in some parts of the state, as part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana. There is one such school on National Highway 7 in Devanahalli taluk.

There are a lot of migrant workers at Muttu Bande, near Nagarjuna Technical College, all working as stone crushers. These workers hail from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Assam, Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There are also several workers from North Karnataka. Children of these workers are taught in the tent school nearby.

Earlier, children of construction workers wasted a lot of time rolling on the sand nearby or playing around. Noticing this, B G Gurusiddappa thought of the idea of teaching alphabets to these children. He raised the issue with then education officer Srikanta. It was out of that discussion that the school took shape in 2006.

The school built out of tin sheets has pictoral depictions used for the Nali - Kali programmes, Kannada and English charts with alphabets and photos of the men who shaped the nation’s destiny, on its walls. As many as 500 children are learning on an informal basis in this school. Children in the six-fourteen age bracket are allowed to join.

Though the mother tongue of majority of these children is not Kannada, efforts are made to teach them both English and Kannada here. If the parents of these children stay on at this place for more than a year, then, they are given a card, and they are provided with the opportunity of admitting their children in a mainstream school in the vicinity. The card can be used in any state.

An Assamese construction worker couple Geetha and Shyam sent their daughter Baalika to the tent school, and as a consequence, the girl is today studying in the New Horizon School near Nandi in Chikballapur.

The tent school also has a midday meal scheme. Apart from this, there are medical tests, entertainment programmes and other community-based programmes organised from time to time.

Every month, students from the school are taken on visits to other schools, places of historic interest and picnics. Students from this school have won many awards at the taluk level Prathibha Karanji competitions.

Gurusiddappa has been teaching children at this school from the last four years, without availing a single day’s leave. Gurusiddappa single-handedly maintains the school. He has been aptly given the best teacher award for his contribution.

Surely, the man is an excellent role model for others to emulate.