Thiruvananthapuram: Pravesanotsavam at Her Highness Sethulakshmibai Government LPS near Karamana Janamaithri Police Station became a grand farewell treat to its headmistress. For the school, which had no students when Sudharmini Amma took charge last year, has 15 new admissions this year. “The efforts of the school’s staff, School Development Committee and PTA have paid off,” she says.
When it reopened last year with no students, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan delayed its closure granting time till Christmas. Then the school had no headmistress and the school’s only teacher, K. Jayalakshmi, had sought a transfer. It was to be a swansong for Sudharmini Amma, who joined in September.
Determined that her final stint should be memorable, she put up a board inviting admissions before October’s Vidyarambham. That’s how the school got its first enrollment of 2015. Before the year ended the strength rose to two. During this time, those in the neighbourhood who got to know about the school’s likely closure came forward and formed a School Development Committee.
Its convenor S. Unni says, “The school has a rich heritage. Gifted by the Travancore royal family, it came into being in the 1890s. It had to be saved.” A new pre-primary teacher was appointed by the PTA – an important job as ten new admissions are in the kindergarten. Many, like V. Venugopalan, the Community Relations Officer at the Janamaithri Station, marshalled their energies to canvass admissions.
