Chandigarh: ACs for all classrooms at Sector-16 govt model school, courtesy of 1975 batch

Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 16, is set to become the first government school in Chandigarh with air conditioners in every classroom, thanks to the school’s 1975-batch alumni.

A group of 39 former students from the batch have come together to donate 35 AC units of 1.5 tonne each, covering all 35 classrooms, to commemorate their golden jubilee, which will be celebrated at the school on Friday.

Valued at over ₹13 lakh, the contribution reflects the batch’s enduring bond with their alma mater.

“My whole family has studied here—my elder brother was in the first batch that graduated in 1963, and my daughter and nephews went to this school too,” said Arvind Jain, a member of the 1975 batch and president of the Sector 22D Market Welfare Association, who spearheaded the initiative.

“To celebrate our batch’s golden jubilee, students of Section-A decided to donate ACs to our school. The initial plan was to cover half the classrooms, but we decided to extend it to all classrooms,” he shared

The UT administration has supported the effort by upgrading the school’s power load, carrying out the necessary wiring and paint work.

A test-run of some ACs was conducted on Thursday, a public holiday on account of Mahavira Jayanti, and they will be formally switched on by UT education secretary Prerna Puri during the golden jubilee celebrations on Friday.

UT director school education Harsuhinderpal Singh Brar confirmed that GMSSS-16 was currently the only government school in the city with this facility. “The school of course has illustrious alumni and we thank them for their contribution. In other government schools too, we have received similar gestures, some made anonymously,” he said.

He added that while such upgrades won’t be extended to all government schools immediately, but the administration will continue to prioritise ACs in auditoriums and computer labs.

Notably, the extra ACs will not lead to inflated power bills for the school, as confirmed by officials, who said the school was carbon neutral and generating adequate power through its solar power plant.

During the reunion on Friday, the batch will also honour their former teachers—many of whom are now in their eighties and nineties—and distribute gifts to every student.

In a heart-warming coincidence, the school’s current principal, Bhavneet Kaur, is the daughter of HK Saini, a teacher who taught the 1975 batch.

Among the alumni, who pitched in for the initiative, with many now settled abroad, are Harsh Batra, former principal of Government College of Education; Amardeep Singh Sodhi, ex-group manager at Microsoft, and Sanjiv Mehta, former program development head at IBM India.

First model school in Chandigarh

Interestingly, established in 1954, GMSSS-16 was the first model school in the city, designed by Pierre Jeanneret, cousin of Chandigarh’s architect Le Corbusier. Even GMSSS-10, constructed two years later, is Jeanneret’s brainchild.

GMSSS-16 boasts of a long list of eminent alumni, including former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda, former union minister Kapil Sibal and current Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari.

It is one of the most sought-after schools for admission in the city, with cutoffs likely to go even higher now after getting the fully-air-conditioned tag.

With the weather department forecasting a harsh summer this year, the alumni’s gesture will bring much-needed relief to students and teachers alike, while adding one more chapter to the school’s proud legacy.