A dilapidated village school in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district has turned into a modern facility thanks to the efforts made by young professionals and businessmen. The primary school run by Nagpur Zilla Parishad in Sukli village of Hingna taluka saw a major change after two NGOs came to know about its deteriorating condition, an official said.
He said the school had only two classrooms for children and one non-functional toilet for 200 students of classes I to V from three villages. Nagpur Round Table-83 (NRT-83) With Bridge The Gap Foundation came up with the idea of providing the best possible infrastructure and modern facilities to the school.
Two NGOs came to know about the school in January 2022 and decided to revamp it with modern facilities and work started the very next month after completing the legal formalities. The first phase was completed and the school was inaugurated on 9 October. Speaking to PTI, NRT-83 chairman Abhay Agarwal said, “For us, the hand in hand was to transform the school, which had only one toilet and two classrooms.”
“In the first phase, we constructed the ground floor with three classrooms, which have desks. One of the classrooms has a built in computer lab and also has a projector. The school now has separate washrooms for boys and girls in the building,” he said.
Agarwal said the school was built for around Rs 40 lakh, which was collected through corporate funding and individual donations. He said that funds were collected in NRT-83 using several innovative channels such as fundraisers, CSR donations from large companies and individual donors from Nagpur and across the country. There are plans to build additional classrooms and a computer lab in the second phase of the project, he added.
“This is what the school wants and we will work on getting grants and funding and, accordingly, move on to other tasks. We will provide infrastructural and support services,” said Agarwal.
Meanwhile, Sukli village sarpanch Dinesh Dengre said that the NGO Bridge the Gap Foundation conducts science, maths and English speaking classes for students from pre-primary to graduation level in the village. “The two organizations together have built a beautiful school in the village with good infrastructure. Not only our village, but the people of the surrounding villages are also happy with this change of school.
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