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Luxury school for slum children soon
Chandigarh, February 7: FOR a school, it’s plush. A sprawling building spread over four acres, a swimming pool that is 20-metre long, no less than 70 bathrooms, Saint Gobain glasses and granite flooring. The setting, which would make any star hotel proud, would be the site of an educational institution that is being raised for slum children. And them alone.
An initiative of industrialist Dr Gurpreet Singh, chairman of Continental Devices India, former head, National Open School and Board Member of Doon School, ‘‘Sikhya-The School of Learning’’ at Sector 46, would be the first elite school for slum children in the city. No prospectus, no registration, no interactive sessions — the enrolments would start just as the session gets rolling. And of course, no fee.
A day-boarding, the school will be managed and run by Gurunanak Vidya Bhandar Trust which supports more than 300 schools in the country. Talking to Newsline, Sonia Channi, the principal of the school said in the beginning, 350 slum children would be enrolled with the help of various city NGOs, in classes I to V. ‘‘The school would have five academic days. Saturdays would be devoted to hobby classes. The discipline would be later turned into a vocational course,’’ said Sonia. Free breakfast and lunch would be offered to check high dropout rate and absenteeism.
She added the school would adopt a multi-disciplinary approach wherein after Class X, the students would have an option to either continue in the academics or take up a vocational course. Efforts are being made to get vocational courses certified by City and Guilds, UK, said Sonia. ‘‘The teachers would undergo training in phonetics and English communicative skills and a professionally qualified social worker would visit the students and parents at regular intervals.’’ There would be no parent-teacher meetings.
A book club, to which students of other schools would be able to donate old books, is also in the offing.
The students will be required to participate in debates, declamations and other extra-curricular activities at the community level.
The building, Sonia said, is handicapped-friendly too.
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