A dying school is restored back to life

The Nawli Zilla Parishad school in Risod taluka of Maharashtra’s Washim district was till last year in a dilapidated state. Students had gradually begun to drop out from this village school and traveled 30 km to a private school even though they had to pay high fees. In June 2016, the school with classes from 1 to 8 had only 4 teachers for 145 students. Headmaster Narayan Garde feared many more would drop out as he struggled to keep the school open. That's when Garde and four other teachers decided to revamp the school and bring it back to life. A protest by villagers at the district office led to the appointment of five teachers by the education department. Garde and his team then started pooling in money to improve the school’s infrastructure. They collected Rs 1.5 lakh which was used to paint walls and install water purifiers. With the villagers’ help who contributed Rs 3 lakh, the worn down school transformed into a colourful, green campus with seven classrooms, a computer lab, toilets and a steady supply of drinking water. Now, there is a steady inflow of students. It has also attracted students from 10 other villages. Washim district collector Rahul Dwivedi said that the team of teachers and villagers have established a model that other villages and towns can follow.