R'than villagers hire teachers for school, gift principal a car

State governments over the years may have failed to improve educational standards in Rajasthan, but local villagers in Sikar district have set a new precedent through their community initiative.

People in Fatehpur village not only hired private teachers for the village school also but honoured the school principal by gifting him a Maruti car for taking new initiatives for the school.

Going a step ahead, villager will also bear the cost of petrol and maintenance of the car for the next three years. About 20 other teachers have also been honoured with silver medals.

The headmaster Bhagirathmal Mahicha and other teachers have been honoured for giving 100 percent pass result and improving the standard of education in the village school.

“The school principal was transferred to our village about three years back. In 2011 there were around 300 kids in the school and today there are about 1,100 kids studying here. With so less infrastructure and facilities, Mahicha and his team have taken various initiatives following which they succeeded in achieving 100 per cent result in the school. None of the students failed this year,” said Jagdish Sharma, village sarpanch.

The indifferent attitude of state government towards the village school has been a major worry for villagers and school administration in the past.

School principal Mahicha motivated villagers to come forward and take joint initiatives to improve standards.

“Despite so many requests, state government failed to meet the shortage of teachers in our school. Eventually villagers hired six private teachers for the school, who are being paid through monthly donations from the villagers,” said Sharma.

Locals said the government school at Fatehpur today is no less than any private school in terms of infrastructure and resources. Local transporters in village are giving free pick and drop facility to the kids.
DH News Service