Pune: After studying in tin shed classrooms for four years, over 200 students of National Children’s Academy in Vadgaon Sheri will finally be studying in their own brand new school building, which was inaugurated on Sunday.
The old building of the school had been razed by a builder following a land dispute in 2016.
“Our school was demolished unceremoniously leaving almost 300 children without a school. Thankfully, a stay order by the court ensured that the school would be allowed to run, but with a temporary structure on the same site. It has taken a lot of protest by the management, teachers and the school trust to finally get a proper structure in place,” said Rupal Chaudhary.
Rupal Chaudhary has been associated with the school for a long time through Teach For India (TFI) Fellowship.
For the past four years, the children at the school, who mostly come from lower income families, had been studying in tin shed classrooms.
“During the summers, it would get extremely hot in these classrooms, in winters, the children would freeze. But the rains were the worst, as the tin sheds would leak, the classrooms would get unhygienic and the children would fall sick,” sighed Chaudhary, as she spoke about the ordeal that the children and their teachers went through during the last four years.
Teach For India has been associated with the school since 2009. Till 2016, their work was limited to ensuring that the children and the classrooms were doing well academically.
“My colleague, Hiranya Riju, and I stepped into the school in 2016. If we were to bring about a sustainable change, we realised that we needed to try and bring changes in the infrastructure here too,” said Chaudhary. After an intervention of around one-and-a-half years, Round Table India with support from Bajaj pitched in and constructed the school.
Despite the struggles and the circumstances that were totally non-conducive for education, the children have still managed to beat all the odds, and continued to excel in academics as well as other activities.
“We worked with the children a lot. While we were trying to fix the issues regarding the infrastructure of the school, we also rented out a place where we would take the children post school hours. Here we would spend informal time, trying to make up for the lost instruction. Neither the children, nor the teachers could give their best in those tin shed classrooms. But outside, we saw miracles. Children, who were not attentive, suddenly wanted to learn more. That was when we really felt the need for the new infrastructure to come into reality soon,” Chaudhary said.
Presently, the school has around 220 students and 20 teachers, including the Teach For India fellows. The school holds classes from Nursery to Class X.
“We certainly lost a few students in the process, but there were many more who stuck with us throughout. We have had incredible support by the parents and students. The kids helped us in designing the building, painting it, and more,” she said.
