Enrol your kid and get uniform, gold & ₹5,000
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Coimbatore: 04.07.2018
Villagers of Konarpalayam near Annur in Coimbatore have found a novel way to boost enrolment in the primary school there — by offering a 1g gold coin, ₹5,000 and two sets of free uniform for the first 10 children who enrol.
The effort has paid dividends. “Three children have joined the school,” says a beaming Rajesh Chandrakumar Y, headmaster of the school. “Three more students have shown interest in joining. I will get them tomorrow.”
The school which started in 1996 with 165 students gradually started losing sheen as residents of the largely agrarian Konarpalayam shifted to neighbouring places due to crop failure.
NOVEL WAY: A notice put out by villagers of Konarpalayam
Big craze for English drove students away
By the 1990s, the student strength had fallen to just 10.
As the craze for English medium schools grew, the strength further dropped to five in the past decade. “After I joined five years ago, I could manage to enrol only six students,’’ says Rajesh. With the population falling to just 65 families, there was nothing he could do.
That’s when the state government decided to shut schools which had less than 10 pupils by accommodating students and teachers in neighbouring schools. Apart from the headmaster, the school also had a teacher, Banumathi.
Rajesh had a meeting with villagers and the idea to incentivise children was born.
Sekar, a businessman from the village, offered to give a one-gram gold coin while village head Selvaraj came forward to offer ₹5,000 each for the first 10 students. The villagers pitched the idea to education department officials who also gave their approval to the initiative.
“We did not want the school to be shut down. Neighbouring villages have schools with a good number of students. It’s a pride for our village also to have a school. So, at any cost, we want to save the school and we are happy that our efforts are bearing fruit,” said Selvaraj.
Education officials appreciated the move and have agreed to participate in a function to be organised where the children would be given the gold coin and cash.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Coimbatore: 04.07.2018
Villagers of Konarpalayam near Annur in Coimbatore have found a novel way to boost enrolment in the primary school there — by offering a 1g gold coin, ₹5,000 and two sets of free uniform for the first 10 children who enrol.
The effort has paid dividends. “Three children have joined the school,” says a beaming Rajesh Chandrakumar Y, headmaster of the school. “Three more students have shown interest in joining. I will get them tomorrow.”
The school which started in 1996 with 165 students gradually started losing sheen as residents of the largely agrarian Konarpalayam shifted to neighbouring places due to crop failure.
NOVEL WAY: A notice put out by villagers of Konarpalayam
Big craze for English drove students away
By the 1990s, the student strength had fallen to just 10.
As the craze for English medium schools grew, the strength further dropped to five in the past decade. “After I joined five years ago, I could manage to enrol only six students,’’ says Rajesh. With the population falling to just 65 families, there was nothing he could do.
That’s when the state government decided to shut schools which had less than 10 pupils by accommodating students and teachers in neighbouring schools. Apart from the headmaster, the school also had a teacher, Banumathi.
Rajesh had a meeting with villagers and the idea to incentivise children was born.
Sekar, a businessman from the village, offered to give a one-gram gold coin while village head Selvaraj came forward to offer ₹5,000 each for the first 10 students. The villagers pitched the idea to education department officials who also gave their approval to the initiative.
“We did not want the school to be shut down. Neighbouring villages have schools with a good number of students. It’s a pride for our village also to have a school. So, at any cost, we want to save the school and we are happy that our efforts are bearing fruit,” said Selvaraj.
Education officials appreciated the move and have agreed to participate in a function to be organised where the children would be given the gold coin and cash.
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