Jawan-turned-teacher revives fortunes of school in Andhra's Ongole

ONGOLE: The efforts of a single person, who served the Indian Army before joining the government service as a teacher, made a school that was on the brink of being closed down become one of the best in the district.

Polisetty Srinivasulu served the Indian Army for nearly 17 years (1992- 2009) in various capacities and returned home in 2009. Later,  he completed his DEd and BA and in 2012, he appeared for the DSC (teachers’ recruitment) exam. He was appointed as a Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) in the Obulakkapalli MPP Primary School on December 29, 2012.

Srinivasulu was then the only teacher at the school, which had only 16 students and majority of them were planning to leave for other schools and the school was even placed in the closure list.“In the beginning, it was very difficult for me to convince the parents of those 16 pupils. Somehow,  they agreed to continue their children in the school. Later, I started my own action plan to improve the school in all aspects including studies, extra-curricular activities, infrastructure facilities such as safe drinking water, classroom benches, paints, additional rooms, etc. I visited each student’s house and met their parents, through them their friends and requested them to join their children in our school. As I came to know that most of the parents are passionate about the English medium studies, I started English medium teaching simultaneously in my school,’’ Srinivasulu explained.

As expected, this step attracted several parents from the surrounding villages and they brought back their children and joined them in the school.“Now, the school (as per April 2022 data) has a strength of 185 students and six teachers. In these 10 years, eleven students from the school got admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) residential school through entrance examinations. We have been giving free coaching to Class IV and V students for JNV entrance exams apart from the regular academic activities,” Srinivasulu said.

Over these 10 years, Srinivasulu spent around Rs 7 lakh for various developmental activities in the school, including safe drinking water, new teaching material, books and other learning material and school beautification. He has also set up pictures of freedom struggle and models of Army tanks and erected statues of freedom fighters on the school premises.    

Last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced year-long ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations in connection with the 75 years of Indian Independence, Srinivasulu started development works with his own money and financial support from his friends.  He organised a big inaugural function of the new development works and infrastructure facilities on February 5 this year and nearly 2,000 people attended it.

“We love our Sir very much as he considers us as his own children and always tries to teach us human values, patriotism and their importance in life. As a strong follower of my guru, I wish to join the defence services to serve my country,” Venkata Ramana, a student of Obulakkapalli school, said.  Srinivasulu was born to P Venkateswarlu and Venkata Subbamma of Markapur town. Venkateswarlu’s  native place is Gudipadu near Donakonda and the couple shifted to Markapur after Venkateswarlu was transferred to the Markapur Head Post Office.

Srinivasulu has three siblings, elder brother Satyanarayana, and two sisters. Lakshmi Devi is his wife and the couple has a son, Sai Rohit, and daughter, Sai Vaishnavi Maanasa.Since childhood, Srinivasulu developed interest in defence services by listening to patriotic tales and moral values from Ramayana and Mahabharat from his father and mother.

At the age of 19, while pursuing his final year BA, Srinivasulu attended an Army recruitment rally and was selected as jawan. “I have many sweet and proud memories in my Army service period. Once, I along with my colleagues rammed into a complex and safely brought back 400 out of 450 trucks from a big fire accident. This happened in Bikaner in Rajasthan where our artillery stocks were kept in 450 private lorries and the enemies set fire one of the lorries and the bombs, grenades, missiles and rockets were started exploding. Myself and a few other jawans brought back 400 trucks of artillery stocks safely. For the successful rescue operation under the ‘Operation Parakram’ by the Indian Army, I along with my troop mates received awards and commendation certificates which I remember forever,” the proud former jawan said.

ONGOLE: The efforts of a single person, who served the Indian Army before joining the government service as a teacher, made a school that was on the brink of being closed down become one of the best in the district. Polisetty Srinivasulu served the Indian Army for nearly 17 years (1992- 2009) in various capacities and returned home in 2009. Later,  he completed his DEd and BA and in 2012, he appeared for the DSC (teachers’ recruitment) exam. He was appointed as a Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) in the Obulakkapalli MPP Primary School on December 29, 2012. Srinivasulu was then the only teacher at the school, which had only 16 students and majority of them were planning to leave for other schools and the school was even placed in the closure list.“In the beginning, it was very difficult for me to convince the parents of those 16 pupils. Somehow,  they agreed to continue their children in the school. Later, I started my own action plan to improve the school in all aspects including studies, extra-curricular activities, infrastructure facilities such as safe drinking water, classroom benches, paints, additional rooms, etc. I visited each student’s house and met their parents, through them their friends and requested them to join their children in our school. As I came to know that most of the parents are passionate about the English medium studies, I started English medium teaching simultaneously in my school,’’ Srinivasulu explained. As expected, this step attracted several parents from the surrounding villages and they brought back their children and joined them in the school.“Now, the school (as per April 2022 data) has a strength of 185 students and six teachers. In these 10 years, eleven students from the school got admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) residential school through entrance examinations. We have been giving free coaching to Class IV and V students for JNV entrance exams apart from the regular academic activities,” Srinivasulu said. Over these 10 years, Srinivasulu spent around Rs 7 lakh for various developmental activities in the school, including safe drinking water, new teaching material, books and other learning material and school beautification. He has also set up pictures of freedom struggle and models of Army tanks and erected statues of freedom fighters on the school premises.     Last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced year-long ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations in connection with the 75 years of Indian Independence, Srinivasulu started development works with his own money and financial support from his friends.  He organised a big inaugural function of the new development works and infrastructure facilities on February 5 this year and nearly 2,000 people attended it. “We love our Sir very much as he considers us as his own children and always tries to teach us human values, patriotism and their importance in life. As a strong follower of my guru, I wish to join the defence services to serve my country,” Venkata Ramana, a student of Obulakkapalli school, said.  Srinivasulu was born to P Venkateswarlu and Venkata Subbamma of Markapur town. Venkateswarlu’s  native place is Gudipadu near Donakonda and the couple shifted to Markapur after Venkateswarlu was transferred to the Markapur Head Post Office. Srinivasulu has three siblings, elder brother Satyanarayana, and two sisters. Lakshmi Devi is his wife and the couple has a son, Sai Rohit, and daughter, Sai Vaishnavi Maanasa.Since childhood, Srinivasulu developed interest in defence services by listening to patriotic tales and moral values from Ramayana and Mahabharat from his father and mother. At the age of 19, while pursuing his final year BA, Srinivasulu attended an Army recruitment rally and was selected as jawan. “I have many sweet and proud memories in my Army service period. Once, I along with my colleagues rammed into a complex and safely brought back 400 out of 450 trucks from a big fire accident. This happened in Bikaner in Rajasthan where our artillery stocks were kept in 450 private lorries and the enemies set fire one of the lorries and the bombs, grenades, missiles and rockets were started exploding. Myself and a few other jawans brought back 400 trucks of artillery stocks safely. For the successful rescue operation under the ‘Operation Parakram’ by the Indian Army, I along with my troop mates received awards and commendation certificates which I remember forever,” the proud former jawan said.