Rural schools need more than just qualified, experienced leaders

Davinder Singh Purba, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Maherna Kalan, talks to Mahesh Sharma about the nitty-gritty of running a government school in a rural area.

Heading a government school in a rural area requires much more than having academic qualifications and experience. Parents and students here need perpetual counselling sessions to emphasise the importance of school education on the future of all stakeholders.

During my 11 years of experience as the principal of a government school, I have observed that most students and their parents were indifferent towards the special efforts being made by the government to upgrade and reform the education system.

Despite the staff’s best efforts to enable each student to follow and implement guidelines given during value-based morning assemblies, the desired results are yielded by only around 50 per cent of the students.

A majority of well-to-do families send their children to private schools as a symbol of their ‘elite’ status. The distance of prosperous and educated families from government educational institutes discourages the administration from undertaking capital projects, which are necessary for the overall development of students, as government funds are not available for such ventures. However, due to persistent efforts by our school’s staff and management, some families, including NRIs, have contributed towards the construction of a multipurpose hall on campus.

Another problem is that since a majority of students at our school come from poor backgrounds, parents don’t hesitate to ask their children to extend a helping hand in their work, which varies from working as domestic help to performing child labour.

Observations made through personal visits by our teachers to the homes of many students during summer vacation revealed that several parents had tried to augment their income by engaging their wards in labour instead of letting them complete their homework. Sadly, even after working so hard, these students have to survive in rough conditions.

Our team has been working to help students from rural areas to come on par with their urban counterparts through education. Though an uphill task, we are positive our efforts will bring positive results.

Ludhiana