A government-run primary school in a hamlet in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has been coming up with novel ways to keep students engaged with the institution and ensure attendance. The zilla parishad-run primary school at Babuwadi-Chartha village has only 50 students and two teachers.
The village is located on a hillock around 45 km from the district headquarters. Over the years, the school catering to students up to Class 5 has been adopting unique initiatives to teach children social responsibility, make sure they care for the environment around the school and motivate them to study well.
Whether it is helping their teachers clean the school every morning, planting saplings or enjoying 'no bag' days, children have come to love the school because of its initiatives.
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Speaking about the latest 'smile badge' programme, the school's headmaster Sudhir Tupe said, "The COVID-19 pandemic changed the studying habits of students. The smile badge initiative was started to ensure that children are motivated to finish their homework." Children who finish their homework win the badge and wear it during school hours, he said, adding that a committee of students has been formed to check the homework every day.
"School begins at 9.30 am every day. But the children come half an hour early to help teachers clean the premises," Tupe told PTI. In order to keep the students motivated to come to school, 'no bag' days have been observed for the last four to five years.
"On no-bag days, we do some gardening, yoga and other fun activities. This has helped improve attendance and children love to come to school because of it," he said. The school has also undertaken a plantation programme to maintain green cover in and around the facility, Tupe said.
"We have planted nearly 60 saplings since 2013 on the school premises. Students save some water in their bottles and water the trees on their way home every day," Tupe said.
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On the academic front, three students from the school were granted admission to Navodaya Vidyalayas, while 15 students have bagged scholarships since 2017, he said. Zilla Parishad education officer Jayashree Chavan said the school's initiatives have been unique and some of them were replicated by other institutions in the district.