Chamarajanagara: Nowadays, education has become commercial and parents search for private schools to provide education to their children. Parents in Gopinatham, a Karnataka border village of Tamil Nadu and Chamarajanagara District, are keen to send their children to government school.
Gopinatham, a village where sandalwood smuggler Veerappan created havoc in the 1980s-90s has now improved a lot. During the 1990s teachers, government servants even the police were afraid of Veerappan kidnapping.
Now Gopinatham Government Primary School is attracting students by its uniqueness.
This government school has extracurricular activities for children, providing quality education, yoga training, exercise, gardening, cultural forum, wall writing and so on.
The school surrounded by forests is situated in Hanur Taluk of the District. The school was developed by headteacher V. Veerappa, a native of the Shagyam village of Hanur Taluk. Earlier, teachers were hesitant to go to school because of the fear of brigand Veerappan.
But in 1992, Veerappa was appointed as a teacher and volunteered to go to school till 1998 then he worked in various schools. He was then promoted to head the Gopinatham School in the year 2019. He is known for his long service in schools situated beside forests.
Within two years after he was appointed headmaster, Veerappa converted the school as an attractive destination for children. The school was in dilapidated condition. Veerappa with the help of donors and the school betterment committee renovated the school, and brought back children who had dropped out. The school has 265 students studying from 1 to 8 standards.
The school has all facilities of a private school to enhance the skills of the students. The school has a clean drinking water unit. There are separate toilets for boys and girls, and they are very neatly maintained. The children do gardening, and grow vegetables in schools which are being used for midday meals.
The wall writing attracts children, and there are also pictures of animals and birds, pictures of the dignitaries, an environment conservation message, English grammar and pronunciation information. Popular proverbs, names of Jnanpith Award laureates, and sentences of different countries are also written.
Children are taught yoga and exercise. kabaddi, long jump, high jump, volleyball and other sports.
Speaking to News Karnataka Veerappa said on that education should have the interest of children, and we should not impose education on children. We are creating interest among children and that is why they are showing good progress.
