In six years, govt school in Fatehabad turns itself around, produces toppers

Fatehabad: The Government Senior Secondary School of Gajuwala village of Fatehabad district is a classic example of what good infrastructure and intent of teachers could do to our education system. Not only has the school recorded zero percentage failure, it also routinely churns out toppers. This year, it was Rathika, who secured the second position in the state by getting 496 out of 500 in secondary exam result of Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH), which was declared on Friday.

The condition of government schools in India is so bad that even government employees hesitate to send their children to them. The case in point was when, about four years ago, the Allahabad high court had to direct the UP chief secretary to ensure that all government servants send their children to primary schools run by the state basic education board.

At Gajuwala, nobody had to force the teachers to put their children in the government school. Jai Singh Godara, principal, said that about six years ago, a decision was taken unanimously that the children of the school staff would be studying in the school.

Godara said that his son passed out of the school and is now doing MBBS on government quota. Son of a junior lecturer of political science was admitted in Delhi University last year after studying here, he added, citing more such examples.

Like the rest of government schools, had it relied only on government aid, the school would have languished too. According to Godara, of the 24 posts of post graduate teachers, only 15 have been filled and the government is yet to employ sikshya sahayak teachers, a computer teacher and a science teacher.

But what the school has in abundance is determination by the staff — and the gram panchayat under the leadership of sarpanch Vijay Haripal — to make it as good as a private one, if not better. “So, despite shortages, 99 out of 105 students in Class X and 90 out of 91 students in Class XII have passed the board examinations and the lowest percentage was 60%. Last year, our student Sunita was placed third among girls in the state in the secondary examination,” said Godara.

He credited the teachers for this success, who put in longer hours. According to him, they also chipped in wherever they could. For instance, the school’s computer lab — and a computer teacher — became possible only because of the staff donation. “The school is called ‘seven to seven school’ because it is open from 7am to 7pm. The staff who come at 7 in the morning, take a short break, but work till 7 pm,” he added.

Seeing its success, the government has started to take note of the school, said Godara. The state government has included the school in Atal Tinkering Lab, through which facilities worth Rs 10 lakh will be provided for five years. It is also getting a science park, Haryana’s first, which will be established in a two-acre land at a cost of nearly Rs 2 crore.