Man sets up smart class at govt school on his own

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 17

An idea can change your life, it is said and rightly so. This is apt for Gurpreet Singh, in charge of Government Elementary School, Mall Road, who had decided to introduce the children of his school to the world of technology.

With his and the schools staff’s efforts, the school has now a smart class, which has been set up without the help of the Education Department.

ADC Shena Aggarwal and SDM Sakshi Sawhney today inaugurated the smart class. They also attended a lecture on English, which was imparted to students through the use of a projector in the class.

Elaborating on the project, Gurpreet Singh said, “All private schools have smart classes now and this is the age of technology. When we talk of raising the level of education being provided in government schools, we have to think of new ways to make the learning easy and interesting so that students’ basic knowledge of the subject holds ground.”

“Though the state Education Department has no provision for setting up such classrooms in government schools, some social organisations came forward to support my idea. The project, including the projector, projection screen, furniture and other things, cost more than Rs 1 lakh,” he added.

Apart from the equipment for smart class, the walls of classroom were painted to motivate children towards learning. The windows had to be covered with film sheets to bar the entry of natural light into the room for clear projection.

“Right now, I am using my own laptop and downloading or playing online videos for the children. Apart from subject-related lessons, the children will also be taught how to paint and draw using computer to keep them interested in the project,” he added.

Gurpreet said the project saw the light of day with the efforts of Pankaj Mangla, Purshotam Gupta, Ravi Garg, Ramandeep Singh Jaura, Gaurav Aggarwal, Shanti Devi and Smile Foundation.