A modest but beautiful single-storey building with a well-maintained square lawn dotted with flowers is the government-run primary school at Peerpora.
Located at the periphery of southern Kashmir’s Shopiandistrict, the school has become a model of quality education despite paucity ofboth staff and space it must contend with.
The three classrooms that accommodate eighty students arewell decorated. The walls of each room are treated with posters, charts ofdifferent sorts and paintings that quickly grab your attention.
“The ambience plays an important role in the learningprocess. You cannot engage a student in a dull or dingy classroom,” saysone of the teachers at the school.
The school has banned junk food and students are strictlyinstructed to bring only healthy and homemade food with them.
“You can’t see any student eating unhealthy snacks inthe school premises. We also refrain from using polythene here,” saidNazir Ahmad, head teacher of the school.
In government schools students usually sit squat on matslaid out of the floor, but not in this one.
“With the help of higher authorities, we managed tofurnish the school with benches and chairs,” said Ahmad, adding thatenrolment shot up significantly over a few years because of how the school isrun and maintained.
” …And now we are facing shortage of accommodationand staff. We are just three teachers managing six classes in threerooms.”
Ahmad was happy to add that another room had now beenprovided by to his school by the local panchayat.
Residents of the Peerpora village of 150 households saidthat they did not prefer to send their children to private schools, contrary tothe story most other places.
“This school is doing better than any privately-runmodern school both in terms of curriculum and discipline,” said IrhadAhmad, a resident.
Chief Education Officer, Mohammad Mushtaq, said that hewould try to address the grievance of this well-run government school soon.