School in Dakshina Kannada now resembles Meenadi Express

MANGALURU: The pandemic has turned into a blessing in disguise for the Government Lower Primary School, Meenadi, located in a backward colony in Kadaba of Dakshina Kannada. The beautification of the school is being undertaken and the school now resembles a train.
The school till last year had only 10 students and did not have teachers until Govinda Naik B, cluster resource person, was given an additional charge of the school. The total number of students increased to 12 and five more students, who were earlier studying in private schools have decided to join this school.

Govinda Naik B, told TOI, “As soon as I took charge of the school, I realised that most of the parents of the students studying in this school are coolie workers. The school is also celebrating its diamond jubilee this year. One of the main reasons why parents do not send their children to government schools is because they do not look attractive. I reached out to philanthropists and as a first step decided to give the school a new look. There have been instances of schools across India being painted like a train in recent years. Drawing inspiration from various posts on social media, I decided to redesign this school as Education Express/ Meenadi Express and now this has become a selfie spot. People from across the village are visiting the school just to see how it looks,” Naik said.
Beautification of the school is being taken at the cost of an approximate Rs 15 lakh and the painting works were completed on Thursday.
“When I was given this school, Vishnu Prasad, who was then the BEO in-charge, told me that I have a school now and it is up to me to bring in a change. Lokesh C, BEO Puttur has been an inspiration during this journey. This is just the beginning. There are a lot more development works to be taken up that includes developing a garden and laying of the interlocks. We are working on introducing English smart classes and most importantly, I am looking forward to donors who will adopt this school so that we can appoint more teachers and the school’s future is secure. I want this school to be an inspiration for others and a model for developing government schools,” Naik said.
Naik, with the help of philanthropists, had also arranged for ration for poor families during the lockdown.