Opened in 1857, Ludhiana school cries for attention

Gujjarwal village, situated around 20 km away from the hustle and bustle of industrial city Ludhiana, has a rare connect with the country’s past.

The year the First War of Independence — also called the Indian Rebellion of 1857 — started, the village got a primary school.

Today, 168 years later, nobody remembers the story behind its opening, except a haphazard collection of some events, including incidents when flood waters entered its rooms during the British Raj twice.

Spread over about two acres, with age-old trees dotting its premises, a “history board” fixed there exhibits the journey of the school, which was upgraded to a smart school in 2019.

The board shows that it got the status of a middle school in 1878 while English was introduced as a subject in 1916.

It also documents student participation in the 1935 silver jubilee celebrations of King Edward and Queen Mary, marking 25 years since his accession to the throne.

As India prepares to celebrate its 79th Independence Day, the school currently runs classes from Class VI to XII, with 167 students on its roll.

Area residents and school records say it has overtime produced many distinguished personalities in the past, including freedom fighter and Ghadar movement martyr Kartar Singh Sarabha, Baba Sawan Singh of Radha Soami Dera, Beas, and Justice Gurnam Singh, who was the sixth Chief Minister of Punjab.

However, despite its rich legacy, the school is a pale shadow of its past, with its infrastructure in a shambles.

Successive governments have failed to recognise the historic importance of the school, which had gained brief attention when Aamir Khan’s film Dangal was shot there.

Its premises was given a Haryanvi makeover, with signboards changed from Punjabi to Hindi, but no lasting restoration followed.

Residents of Gujjarwal and nearby areas have appealed to the government to restore the original design and structure of the school and to promote it as a site for educational tourism.

Many parts of the building have been declared unsafe and require urgent renovation.

Balwinder Singh Gujjarwal, a retired school principal and social activist, expressed disappointment over the lack of recognition.

He said despite being declared a smart school, no substantial infrastructure improvement followed.

Shyam Singh, a nonagenarian and former student, recalled how educators once visited Gujjarwal to learn from its teaching strategies.

He said none of the successive governments in the state honoured the school’s legacy.

The villagers, led by sarpanch Hardeep Singh, have urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and Education Minister Harjot Bains to initiate steps for preserving the school’s legacy.

Former principal Sukhminder Singh Grewal mentioned that Aamir Khan was deeply impressed by the school’s history and chose it as a filming location for Dangal.