Daijiworld Media Network - Chikkamagaluru (SP)

Chikkamagaluru, Jun 4: Sunkasale is a hamlet in the district which also has a government lower primary school. The masonry work on the walls had peeled off at various places and the roof had gaps at various spots. The school had not been painted since decades. This was the picture presented by the government lower primary school at Sunkasale in Balur revenue division in Mudigere taluk till a few years ago. Not anymore, after the single teacher school was taken over by teacher Kantaraj HC, who worked hard to bring a change in the looks of the school with futuristic vision.

The walls of the school have been tastefully decorated with spray paint. The children who studied by sitting on the ground or broken benches, now get seated on chairs and learn by sitting around round tables. Kantaraj decided to give a facelift to the dilapidated school after he came here. He rejuvenated the school by contributing about Rs 40,000 on his own in addition to making use of Rs 50,000 grant given by the zilla panchayat for school building repairs.

The classrooms which were arranged in a haphazard manner are now given a semblance of order. Making full use of the holidays imposed by coronavirus lockdown, Kantaraj visited the school every day, and beautified the school by colouring the walls. School development and Monitoring Committee and parents have supported the efforts of the teacher. Kantaraj has drawn pictures which support the creativity of the students.

Kantaraj has been the teacher here since the last 14 years. He has been laying stress on imparting training in spoken English, painting, self-discipline etc. Kantaraj takes part in all public programmes in the village. He has convinced the parents and SDMC to see that the students wear different uniforms each day. When students are absent from school, their homes are visited to find out the reason behind their absence. Kantaraj has also undertaken works like road repair and cleaning of the village, school compound cleaning etc with the support of parents.

The school's student strength now is 12. The teacher has been visiting villages nearby to create awareness about the benefits of attending school. Kantaraj, apart from creating friendly environment for learning, also has been evincing interest in getting skills to affectively teach the students by acquiring different methods of teaching.

Kantaraj says that he created artefacts on the pillars of the school to help the students get interested in learning, as good environment supports such things. He says that he has been striving to improve admissions in the school. He feels that if another teacher is provided and a few more facilities are included, the school will develop and admissions will increase.

The villagers are appreciative of the work put in by Kantaraj for the development of schools. They hail him for transforming a dilapidated government school into a school that surprises anyone who has lowly opinion about government schools.