With the commencement of academic year 2017-18, the Kerala government’s effort towards reforming the education sector of the State, especially the government schools, has been seen as a positive step with more people willing to enroll their children into government schools. Nevertheless the efforts from many celebrities, young politicians and other eminent personalities who have lent their helping hand for the development of these Government schools have also been worth it. A couple of days ago, director Tom Emmaty turned brand ambassador of Ayanthol Government Vocational Higher Secondary School. The director of Oru Mexican Aparatha was once a teacher at Ayanthol school and when he got an opportunity to do something for the upliftment of the school, he willingly came forward to do whatever he could to help revive the school, like helping school authorities in the task of increasing the enrollments.
Why did he choose to be the brand ambassador of Ayanthol Government Vocational Higher Secondary School? Tom says, “I have a deep attachment with that school where I was a teacher at the initial stages of my career. I remember that during those times there were enough students in the schools. Whatever the reason, the present situation of the government schools is pathetic and something very effective has to be done in order to change it. Blaming the government for everything is easy but I think that they are intervening in whichever way possible. The public too has a lot to contribute. I proudly say that I am a person who studied in a government school following state syllabus. I remember that there were at least ten divisions during those days. And as far as I know, there are many eminent personalities from Kerala who have received their formal education from govt schools and yet have achieved much in their life.”
Tom Emmatty speaking at Ayanthol Govt School
He added that learning Malayalam for people belonging to Kerala is mandatory and that neglecting these schools in the name of English not being taught there or poor infrastructure are just excuses. Finance Minister Thomas Issac also had posted an incident on his official Facebook page where he spoke about a person who came to meet him seeking permission to repair the dilapidated building of the lower primary school he had studied in. The man was none other than Metro Man, E. Sreedharan. He came with the request to grant DMRC the permission to build the collapsed classrooms of the school. The minister quoted, “I was literally amazed to see this great man’s commitment towards the school where he once studied. If every one of us has this feeling towards the schools we have studied, there is no need to incorporate any measures to revive this sector.”
Award winning cinematographer, Sujith Vaassudev has also been a part of saving centuries-old Attakulangara, the Central government school from losing its land and later on for the revival of the school. “Attakulangara School is one of the famous and oldest government schools of Thiruvanantha puram. The premises of the school was five acres which has now decreased to three acres due to the allocation of the land for various other purposes. When the order of taking away another 2.2 acres of land came, some of us who are the alumni of the school got worried as we knew that it is the neglected condition of the school which is leading to such unfortunate happenings. We intervened and made the government aware of the necessity of playground and good infrastructure for the school. Finally, we not only succeeded but also received grants from the government for the development of the school. Our efforts are showing results as the introduction of smart classes and other facilities have increased the number of enrollments.” says Sujith.
E. Sreedharan with Thomas Isaac
Young politicians, M.B. Rajesh and V.T. Balaram had also gone a step further in this regard and put their kids in government schools. M.B Rajesh says, “My elder kid is already studying in a govt school, but only this time when I enrolled my second kid, this became news. The little inhibition that I had during admitting my elder kid has vanished and now I am happy that my kids will study Malayalam.The criticisms that state syllabus schools receive is regarding the infrastructure and the lack of proper standards of teaching English language. Both can be improved if the government takes necessary steps as the quality of teachers is definitely good in these schools. And the lack of teachers will also be solved once more students get admitted.”
