A school for & by girl students
Sanjeev Singh Bariana in Gurdaspur
IT is lunch break at Baba Aya Singh Riarki College, Tughalwala (Gurdaspur). Mehakpreet Kaur keeps her books on a table and picks a basket of ‘fulkas’for distributing among fellow students sitting in a row.
A plus-one student, Mehakpreet Kaur is not alone involved in student care. She is joined by several others in growing vegetables and preparing and serving food. The work also includes sourcing vegetables from the kitchen garden and sorting pulses and ingredients before cooking the food. The students also manage office, stores, grounds and hostels, plus teaching the fellow students. The school’s journeys began in 1971 when Principal Swaran Singh Virk decided to quit his job of a teacher. “I I want to teach poor girls,” he told his family members. He began with ‘gyani’ course in religion with only 14 girls. The institution today has more than 3,500 students, on its rolls, from nursery to BA.
The graduation results for girls appearing as private students from Guru Nanak Dev University, this year, show that 198 had first division and 28 were on the merit list of the university. In 2015, as many as 254 passed out of which 153 had the first division. At least 24 were on the merit list.
The institution manages its finances on its own with an ideal ‘Free Education -- No Donation.’ The fee for a student, studying in English medium, is Rs 3,500 annually, till Class X. A student studying in Punjabi medium pays Rs 1,000 annually. There is no fee for girls in college. A resident of a hostel pays Rs 6500 for the whole year. Principal Swaran Singh mentions grants worth Rs 10 lakh released by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and another one worth Rs 3 lakh, by former Member of Parliament MS Gill which were never availed. The committee of students once issued a ‘tankah’(punishment) of Rs 5.25 with recitation of ‘japji sahib’15 times as punishment to Principal Virk for agreeing to accept aid from a deputy commissioner. “Don’t cheat is the first lesson when a student joins us. I can say with satisfaction that there are thousands who passed out from our institution, and are shining in their respective fields. Their unconditional love gives us energy to carry on,” says Principal Virk.
The college issues no prospectus. A sentence, on the college gate, reads ‘Leave your past behind and be prepared for a new future’.
