Punjab’s Moga villagers, NRI, staff jointly spent ₹40 lakh to turn govt school into smart school

For the students of Government Senior Secondary School, Bilaspur in Nihal Singh Wala sub-division in Moga, smart classrooms is something they couldn’t have even dreamt about. Only a few months ago, they were forced to study in dilapidated classrooms.

But things have since changed. Reciprocating to the state government’s drive to convert government schools into smart schools, the school staff, villagers and non-resident Indians (NRIs) jointly spent around ₹40 lakh to modernise the Bilaspur village school, which is around 40km from Moga.

The school having a strength of 650 students and 30 classrooms, now has a state-of-the-art football and athletics stadium. It also has a reverse osmosis (RO) water purifier system, computer room, library with over 4,000 books, besides information and communication technology, physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics labs.

An Edusat receive-only terminal (ROT) has been was set up in the school, which is a one-way communication where students can study through satellite. Paintings exhibiting the culture of Punjab adorn the corridor walls and students have been provided with colourful desks in classrooms.

Parents from some 20 adjoining villages are making efforts to admit their wards to this school.

The school, which was established in 1939, is spread over 8 acres. “The revamp process started in 2015 with the help of NRIs, clubs and village residents. Earlier, classrooms and washrooms were in a dilapidated state. The labs were outdated and were without basic equipment, but now we have modern labs,” said school in-charge Rupinderjit Kaur.

District education officer (secondary) Pardeep Sharma said besides the school staff, villagers and NRIs, the Youth Services Club and the Bilaspur Welfare Club have played a pivotal role in collecting funds to improve the infrastructure in the school. He said while the school employees contributed ₹6-7 lakh from their salaries, over ₹22 lakhs was raised by both the clubs apart from the funds given by villagers and NRIs individually. He said Punjab assembly deputy speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti donated money for the library.

Avtar Singh Kareer, district smart school motivator, said: “We are now focusing on revamping the village government primary school with the help of NRIs. A maths park has been set up and artwork on the walls has also been completed.”