With colourful buildings having thematic artworks on classroom walls, refurbished floors and desks, several government-run schools in Kendrapara district of Odisha are getting a facelift, an official said on Thursday. The district administration has started an infrastructure development project in March and set a target to revamp existing facilities in 500 primary and upper primary schools by end of the current year, Kendrapara Collector Amrit Ruturaj said.
Over 60 of them have already been transformed into modern educational institutes, he said. The state government had earlier taken an initiative to transform 1,000 high schools into modern facilities and allocated funds for it.
"Taking inspiration from the high school programme, we took the initiative to transform primary and upper primary schools in the district," Mr Ruturaj said.
Earlier, the condition of several elementary schools was not up to the mark, Mr Ruturaj said, adding that the administration wanted to transform these educational facilities with the best infrastructure in line with the model schools in Kerala, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.
The focus has been on improving existing infrastructure with good quality benches, desks, toilets and other facilities, the official said.
In view of the concept of 'Building As Learning Aid' (BALA), the administration is adorning school premises classrooms, walls and corridors with drawings and paintings themed on geometrical figures and solar system, and also models related to geography or science subjects, Mr Ruturaj said.
The school management committees and teachers have been involved in the development process. Speaking on the project cost for each school, the official said funds have been earmarked from the budget allocated to blocks and panchayats from the state and the finance commissions. The budget for the transformation of schools depends on the strength of the students and the number of classrooms, he said.
"If there are three to four classrooms in a primary school, it may cost around Rs 4-5 lakh or Rs 8-10 lakh for upper primary institutes," Mr Ruturaj said.
He said the district administration was also mulling computer literacy for students of Class 4 or 5, along with digital education facilities.
Building of dining-cum-learning halls has also been in the pipeline for around 100 schools to overcome challenges related to the mid-day meal programme in these educational institutes, Mr Ruturaj added.
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