Primary lessons: Take a look at this Sangrur govt school

Amaninder Pal in sangrur

THESE days when parents are busy selecting the best convent or a private school for their children, straining every nerve to arrange the skyrocketing fee, here's a government school in Sangrur village that can tell us a bit about what's wrong and what could be right with our primary education system. 

Located on a link road of Sangrur joining two small towns, Badbar and Cheema, you may find all seats full at Rattoke's seven-room government primary school. These were actually filled up on November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday, within a couple of hours as parents from adjoining villages made it point to wait for a seat in 135-student capacity school. The school classes start around 8am and continue till 8pm.

Unlike other government schools, where students are directly enrolled in Class I, Rattoke enrolls students in UKG too. So, a student who will be enrolled in Class I in 2018 is already admitted. “I took admission here in LKG. My brother, who also passed out from here, is studying in class VIII of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. Teachers in the Rattoke school neither scold nor give hefty homework,” says Class V student Rajdeep Sharma, whose father is a small farmer.

Rajdeep's pride is reflected in the resumed tests conducted by State Council for Education and Research Training last year: 28 of the total 32 scored above 90 per cent marks and the rest got above 85 per cent. Cracking Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya entrance test for 20 seats of class VI is seen as an achievement. For about four years, at least five pass-out students of Rattoke school crack the test every year. 

Udaan, an NGO of mathematics teachers, conducts 'Ramanujan Test” annually at all government schools of Sangrur district. Last year, Rattoke students bagged all three top positions and eight of its students had slots in the top 20 positions. 

One of the secrets of the school is: Teachers of Rattoke have preferred to make the village their home. So, they are available to their students round-the-clock.

Working as head teacher, Sukhwinder Singh joined this school along with his wife Renu Singla in 2002. There were only 30 students enrolled in the school. Their joining proved a turning point. “We worked hard to earn reputation for the school. Once we achieved that, students rushed to get admission,” said Surinder Singh, who belongs to Mansa city, but shifted to Rattoke along with Renu over three year ago.

The couple had to face the rough side of the administrative machinery. Around two years after they had joined, they received transfer orders under government's “rationalization” policy. This entails transferring teachers from schools with comparatively less student strength. “We had around 80 students then. But villagers were happy with our work and decided to request the district education to take back our transfer orders,” recalls Sukhwinder.

Here's the routine for the teacher couple: “We take regular classes from 8am to 2 pm. From 2 to 3:30 pm, we give free tuition to weak students. Around 4pm, old school students, who are now studying in middle or higher secondary schools or preparing for an entrance exams, turn up for classes. This continues till 8pm. Meanwhile around 5pm, regular students play games for the next couple of hours,” says Renu. 

The school has an Anganwadi centre which teachers treat as an equivalent to Lower Kindergarten (LKG). Pardeep Singh and Stapal Kaur are the other teachers serving here for the past three years. Ranjit Kaur work as an Anganwadi worker. “Every year, we conduct admissions on November 14 and admit 30 students in LKG. All seats fill up within hours. We admit all students from our village. The rest of the seats are given to students from surrounding villages on first-come-first-served basis,” says Sukhwinder.

The school has also shown good performance in sports. Of the 12 players in boys and girls teams of Kho-Kho, who have won gold medal in Punjab State School Games at Fatehgarh in the last academic session, half were from the Rattoke school.  Vijay Kumar, who owns a departmental store in nearby Dhadhriaan village and whose three daughters study in the schools, says: “Quality-wise, the school's standards are better than those in city schools.” 

Villagers donate whatever they can afford. “We don't seek anything from anybody. We are simply doing our duty with commitment to our profession. That's it,” says Sukhwinder.