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Time of India

Private school initiative breathes new life into 140-yr-old Bengaluru institution

Bengaluru: Time-worn walls, sorry-looking classrooms and over-a-century-old building ready to crumble. That was then. Cut to now. The 140-year-old govt Tamil Higher Primary School on Shivajinagar's Thimmaiah Road is an ochre-and-dark-grey building with spiffy classrooms and flooring that outshines a mirror. This is the story of the school's transformation at a cost of Rs 1.8 crore in two years. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru Under a public-private partnership with Inventure Academy, a private school on Sarjapur Road, the newly rebuilt Tamil school was inaugurated on Wednesday — with new look, feel, and English-medium sections, besides the existing Tamil medium. The school has 28 admissions into English medium in Class I and II this year, besides eight students in Tamil medium from Class I to VII. This is Inventure's second such venture after a similar success story of their Ramagondanahalli project in Whitefield where it adopted a Kannada-medium school in 2019. What started with 200 students now has 1,100 students. In Tamil school too, Inventure will provide teachers and pedagogy, besides operating English-medium sections. The infrastructure was built using MLA Rizwan Arshad's local area development funds to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore, and the rest came through donations. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like New Container Houses Indonesia (Prices May Surprise You) Container House | Search ads Search Now Undo by Taboola by Taboola English-medium sections will have a head teacher, two teachers, one teaching assistant. During the construction period of two years, the Tamil-medium classes were conducted in a small building with two classrooms. The English medium started this year from a small space in an NGO's building. "After the MLA visited our Ramagondanahalli school, he expressed interest in replicating the model in his constituency, where he has been revamping schools. I, too, wanted to plough back to society. I have been here multiple times — as a child, with my mother, from seeing it up close during corporation elections to shopping at Russell Market. We chose this school that was completely dilapidated," said Nooraine Fazal, founder, Inventure Academy. The school was in a sorry state: No permanent electricity connection, blackspots, garbage, school premises a hive for drunken elements. "When I joined 25 years ago, the school had 70 students. The numbers began to dwindle over the years, but the real downfall began after Covid. The huge area was targeted by the public. We are looking forward to a change now," said Kalaivani, a Tamil teacher at the school. "The difficult part about the public-private partnership is the govt has a standard MoU where the private parties build infrastructure and leave it at that. We, at Ramagondanahalli and Shivajinagar, have a different approach of delivering holistic education to children. While officials appreciate our objective, the technical formalities are hard to complete," said Nooraine. The new building was designed by Indian Institute of Interior Designs. "While we wanted to maintain the old building as a heritage structure, it was so dilapidated it crashed. In the new building, we wanted to ensure a play of light and small learning courtyards inside the building instead of the usual govt school designs," said Kavita Shastri, architect. FIGHTING THE ODDS * The British, who had a base in Madras Presidency, brought in skilled labourers and traders to Bengaluru * Many Tamil schools started, to meet needs of workers' children * Govt Tamil school on Thimmaiah Road saw a decline over the years, with parents rooting for English-medium education * Besides, a 2km radius has 26 govt, aided, and unaided schools