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Students taught to take care of their bicycles

Last Updated 16 September 2012, 18:10 IST

A workshop on bicycle repair was organised for the students of Government upgraded Higher Primary School in Kashettipalli in Srinivaspur taluk.

There is no town close to Kashettipalli. However students from the surrounding villages come to the school here on bicycle. When something goes wrong with the cycle, the students are delayed in attending classes. Keeping this in mind, school headmaster and writer S Raghunath organised a workshop on cycle repair with the help of cycle repairers.
Bicycle riding is becoming popular among rural students. It is environment friendly and also helps students to reach classes in time.

Every year the Department of Public Instruction has been procuring bicycles for free distribution to eighth standard students of poor families.

The scheme to offer bicycles to students was launched by then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy government in 2006. It was meant to check students, especially girls, from dropping out of school due to the difficulty of trudging long distances every day to attend classes.

There is a lot to learn about bicycle repairs than meets the eye. Repairs include fixing a flat tyre, broken chains, pedal, brakes, wheel, tube, bell and bicycle pump.

Bicycle repair and maintenance does not require expensive equipment. Learning proper bike maintenance and repair isn't rocket science. It's a skill that takes patience and practice, and that's really all there is to it. Besides learning to maintain and repair one’s own bicycle, one can also take it up as a vocation.

The students learnt from the cycle mechanics the skills to maintain and repair a bicycle. “It is true that the Government provides bicycles to the students, but they must also learn how to repair and maintain it especially considering the fact that there are no cycle repair shops in rural areas,” says Raghunath, the headmaster.

He says that the students have to skip classes when the cycle break downs or else the parents have to take the cycle to the nearest town for repairs. Parents engaged in agriculture do not have the time for all this and to prevent all this hassles a cycle repair workshop was held, he adds.

Some students, especially girls, who are beneficiaries of the free Government bicycles, do not know how to ride a bicycle. Such students are taught to ride a bicycle after school hours.

The students of this school are adept in administrating first aid when there is a minor injury either to themselves or others and even animals. First aid materials are available in the school. The people of this village are thankful to the headmaster for taking the initiative to train the students.

This workshop on cycle repair has become a model to emulate for other schools.

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(Published 16 September 2012, 18:10 IST)

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