Trust facilitates turnaround in govt school’s fortune

One may find it hard to believe, but a government school in Shaktinagar is rejecting admissions on the grounds that it has exceeded its intake of students.

Nalyapadavu Government Primary School Old Boys’ Association honorary president Kushal Kumar K told DH that LKG and UKG classes, within a year of its launch by Vidyadivege Educational and Charitable Trust, have received an overwhelming response from parents.

As the classes are being held in temporary classrooms, the admissions have to be restricted to 66 students (33 students each in LKG and UKG).

The school’s in-charge headmistress Dakshayani S said 10 applications, recommended by Kushal Kumar, who is also the honorary president of the trust, had to be rejected.

The strange phenomenon of rejection of admissions is a complete turnaround for this 57-year-old school. For a decade, the school which is blessed with a sprawling playground and pro-active community had witnessed a steep decline in the enrollment of students.

The total student strength of Nalyapadavu Primary School which was 1,000 before 2001, dipped to 189 students in the previous academic year (2018-19). The school’s many achievements, including the recognition of being the only school in the district, to be declared as Kuvempu Shathamanotsava Shaale failed to draw students.

A grateful headmistress attributes the school’s turnaround to the launch of the trust, a first of its kind initiative across the district by old students, parents and donors.

In the current academic year, the total student enrollment had increased from 189 to 272, including 66 students in LKG and UKG, she said.

“The children enrolling into LKG and UKG get free uniforms and books. We also don’t collect fees. The salaries of two teachers and a peon are paid by the trust,” the trust’s president Devananda said.

Sources in South Block Education Office said that the trust has been paying the salaries of five out of the total 12 teachers serving in the
school.

The school wore a festive look recently to celebrate the school’s changing fortunes. Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath inaugurated the first and sixth standard classrooms which will be implementing English as the medium of instruction for the first time in the school’s history.

The fresh batch of students who had enrolled in the first and sixth standard was accorded a traditional welcome by the teachers.

Kushal Kumar and School Development Monitoring Committee (SDMC) President Kishore said their next goal was to build two new classrooms in order to increase the intake of students for LKG and UKG.

The parents present at the programme nodded their heads in agreement when the school’s in-charge headmistress declared that the Old Boys Association, Padavu Friends Club, SDMC and Vidyadivege Educational and Charitable Trust were the pillars of the school.