An institution for well-rounded education

Visakhapatnam: For understandable reasons, people look down upon government schools. What if there is an exception among government educational institutions; and that too, a high school that outclasses comparable private institutions in many respects?

The Chandrampalem Zilla Parishad High School is one government institution that is fully equipped to offer well-rounded education, thanks to the total commitment of its authorities and the government. The school has been registering excellent results in education as well as sports and extracurricular activities.

Since 2010, the school has been giving admission to at least 400 new students annually and presently it has a strength of 3,316 students --- the highest among government high schools in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State. Apart from education, the school has been nurturing promising students with the aim of making them sports personalities and artistes in various fields, including music and dance.

Although admissions in government schools have shown a decline, Chandrampalem ZP High School, located 9 km away from the city at Madhurawada, has bucked the trend. It is the only government-run high school with multiple specialties. The credit goes to the 88-strong teaching staff and five-member non-teaching staff of the school.

Madhurawada has many residential colonies and apartments, with majority of the people belonging to middle and lower middle classes. Many parents are now sending their children to this school from various pockets in the city.

The school, established in 1979 over an extent of 5.5 acres, continued till 2010 as just another government school without any special attention. However, after the government decided to make it a ‘model institution’, things started moving fast.

The school premises got a facelift, along with a host of facilities, including complete boundary wall, spacious playgrounds, a day-and-night basketball court, table tennis room, ball badminton court, boxing rings and many more. These attractions proved to be simply irresistible for students, prospective students and parents.

Observing the growing popularity of the school, the government as well as other institutions started supporting the school. This helped the school authorities in focusing on developing the institution with fully equipped digital classrooms, computer labs, and solar and wind power energy systems. Some institutions presented furniture to all the classrooms. In 2016-17 academic year, 493 out of 504 Class X students came out in flying colours.

The GVMC has been providing purified drinking water to the school. A total of 26 toilets with running water are in good condition. The management of the school has appointed two staffers to maintain the toilets in clean and hygienic conditions. Apart from the teaching staff, Vidya Volunteers are training students in various extracurricular activities.

“It is our pride to acknowledge the support we got from the both government and parents. Recently, we started skill development classes. Students are being trained in skilled work, including the making of footmats, tailoring and stitching. Our students take part in various national level sports and events, including boxing, taekwondo, basketball and carroms, says M Rajababu, one of the headmasters.

Many students of the school play ball badminton. Noticeably, the school management displays the menu of the mid-day meal every day and students are happy at the quality of food. Former additional SP TSR Prasad is among those who are helping in meeting the diverse needs of the school.

“If every school is developed on par with the Chandrampalem ZPHS, there won’t be any need for rationalisation of schools in the State,” says one of the teachers of the school, hitting the nail on the head.

By Vkl Gayatri