Mission Turnaround: 473 primary schools get a makeover

Karam Prakash
Tribune News Service
Patiala, December 8

After the state Education Department identified 450 teachers this year for the Mission ‘Turnaround’ for government schools, the movement seems to have started bearing fruits. 

After years of neglect hundreds of government schools in the state have turned the page following the campaign. A mere look at schools tells the story. 

As many as 473 government primary schools across the state have already been transformed while 981 are undergoing renovation. 

In fact, the department identified teachers to carry out the job of improving schools by the year end. Each teacher had to take care of 10 primary schools in his/her respective area, wherein, they inspired and guided the staff conerned to undertake transformation. In all, there are 13,000 primary schools in Punjab.

Indeed, the renovation of the schools has changed the perspective of the people about government-run institutions in the state.

Motivational slogans and quotes adorning corridor walls, poems and educative information on school buildings, greenery all around, well-maintained playgrounds, neatly-laid out libraries, mid-day meal shelter, math park, cycle stand and toilets cleaner than homes narrate the amazing story of these institutions. 

Now, students come in a proper uniform, which earlier was a rare scene in government schools.

It is pertinent to mention that all these schools are self-maintained as there is no help from the state government. Makeover, in effect, is result of the sheer zeal of hundreds of teachers, who transformed these schools completely.

“We went door-to-door in the village for donation and it started pouring in. A lot has gone towards changing. It is not just the look of schools, the strength in these institutions too has increased. Now, more people want to send their children to government schools in this area,” said Bhupinder Singh, an SST teacher, who was instrumental in transforming the Government High School in Bolar Kalan.