An architect’s impression of the school. A Telegraph picture

Chandigarh, May 17: With a 20-metre swimming pool, designer tiles, granite flooring and imported glass panes, it could be the five-star hotel Chandigarh has lacked all these years.

Don’t bother turning up for a room, though ? it’s fully booked for the next few years. By slum children.

The swank, sprawling mansion at Sector 46, spread over 4.5 acres, is coming up not as a hotel but a school that will teach only these poorest of children. For free.

The brainchild of Gurpreet Singh, chairman of the Continental Devices India Ltd, a firm manufacturing semiconductors, Sikhya ? The School of Learning will open in July.

It is being funded by Singh’s family trust, the Guru Nanak Vidya Bhandar Trust, which aids dozens of educational institutions in the country.

“Gurpreet, now 72, wants to give back to society a part of what it has given him,” says principal Sonia Channi with a gleam in her eyes. “To start with, I had been sceptical about the project.

“But when I saw his passion, I, too, realised that it is possible to provide to the poor and needy the quality education they so desperately need.”

The air-cooling ducts in every room, the small hospital that goes by the name of sick bay and the amphitheatre bear testimony that Singh is not a man for half measures.

To begin with, the school will have 350 pupils, from nursery to Class V, and will grow by one class every year.

“Each class will have two sections and the school will have five teaching days. Saturdays will be dedicated to hobbies,” Channi said.

“The only ‘fee’ we are asking for is a commitment from the parents that they would allow their children to complete their studies. The pupils, too, would have a responsibility: to teach their mothers at home every Saturday.”

The children will take a bath once they arrive at the school (it has 70 bathrooms), change into their uniforms and have breakfast before they make for their classrooms.

“We’ll offer free breakfast and lunch as an insurance against absenteeism ? or the children dropping out,” the principal added. “They will bring nothing and take away nothing, apart from the knowledge they gain.”

There will be no parent-teacher meeting but a “professionally qualified social worker will visit the students and parents at home at regular intervals”.

“The medium of instruction will be English. The curriculum will be heavily audio-visual,” Channi said. “Learning will be hands-on. The children will work on computers. The teachers will be trained in phonetics and English communication skills.”

After Class X, a student will have the option of either going to college or to take up a vocational course. Efforts are on to get the vocational courses certified by City and Guilds, the UK-based “vocational awarding body” with a presence in over 100 countries.

“We are also planning a cr?che so that pupils with working parents can bring their younger siblings to school,” the principal said.

Some non-government organisations helped with recruiting the children but not much financial help has been forthcoming.