RANCHI: A school principal in a Jharkhand village is on a mission to take education to another level during the Covid pandemic.
Sapan Kumar, the principal of ‘Utkramit Madhya Vidyalalya’ at Dumarthar village in Dumka, had recently hit headlines by transforming an entire village into a class-room where walls serve as blackboard on which students solve assignments given by teachers through loudspeakers.
Now, the teacher has taken another initiative and is making the children self-sufficient by helping them make chalks, mats and brooms which are needed for running the classes.
Kumar said the students are producing chalks, mats and brooms after their classes, and the materials used for making the blackboard are obtained from local resources without using any chemical or paint.
According to Kumar, he took up the initiative to make children learn the importance of self-reliance as he believes that all-round development is important for a child to become successful in life.
“I found it too expensive to buy chalks. Therefore, I started looking for an alternative. After brainstorming for a few days, I decided to produce it on our own as it was not very difficult to get the raw materials,” said the principal.
“Now, the children are producing more than 200 chalks every day,” said the principal. Similarly, every child needs a mat to sit outside their houses. These mats are made using palm leaves,” he added.
Students are also happy that they are learning new skills.
“This is a new experience for us,” said a class 8 student Sonadi Marandi. Also, the outdoor classes are set in such way that social distancing is maintained.