COIMBATORE: Ever since the news that Mrs R. Sathy, who serves as headmistress of the Panchayat Union Primary School, Malumichampatti in Madukkarai, has been selected for the ‘Best Teacher Award’ broke, celebrations on the campus have begun. She is the only teacher from Tamil Nadu who has been chosen to receive the award that will be conferred on her by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Teacher's Day function at Delhi on September 5.
Speaking to DC, Mrs R Sathy said when she took over as headmistress, in 2012, the school was in bad shape so much so that it lacked basic facilities. “We constructed individual toilets for boys and girls and currently, the walls of the school campus are painted with social message.” she said.
The campus boasts of a garden where vegetables are grown and taken care of by students of the school under supervision of staff. With more than two decades of experience, Mrs Sathy knows best how to ensure that her students are a happy lot. After she assumed charge she ensured that students of her school are exposed to extra-curricular activities and yoga, various arts and self defense are included in the curriculum.
Over the years, number of children dropping out of school has come down. Among her remarkable achievements, formation of ‘kutti commandos’, deserves a mention.
In the village of Malumichampatti, open defecation was rampant. In order to transform the village into a defecation-free village, the ambitious head mistress of the school formed a team of students who would make regular early morning trips to the village and advise the natives to refrain from defecating in the open.
"The team educated the villagers of the ill-effects of open defecation and with the help of officials as many as 244 toilets were constricted in our village. We are in talks with Rotary Club to have a community toilet constructed in our village," Mrs Sathy said.
Under her leadership the Panchayat Union Primary School received 'Best School Award' in 2015. Currently, the co-education school has student strength of 280 including 146 boys and 134 girls and has ambitious plans for the future.
"We are planning to transform our campus into a plastic free campus, where students will be encouraged to use alternatives for most commonly used plastic product like water bottles, pencil boxes among others. The aim is to make ban the usage of plastic in our village and we plan to start from our school." Mrs Sathy said.
