After makeover, Kanhangad's 98-year-old ‘muthassi’ school awaits kids to tell stories

Many headteachers come every day to see and replicate the changes this government school underwent in a short period

Four artists of Kasaragod came together to design the pre-primary section and the entrance arch, which hides 31 Panchatantra tales in it for the children to discover.

KANHANGAD: When schools in Kerala reopen on November 1, students and parents of AC Kannan Nair Memorial Government Upper Primary School at Melangott in Kanhangad will be in for a pleasant surprise.

"The school is 98 years old but our children will be coming to a brand new school," said Kodakkad Narayanan, the school's headmaster and a national award-winning teacher.

During the past 18 months, when the schools remained shut because of the pandemic, the Melangott school -- established in 1923 -- was undergoing a makeover. The school built a fable-filled 'model' pre-primary section, a modern library block, two double-storey blocks, which house 10 smart classrooms, a spacious hall, and regular classrooms.

The school -- with classes up to standard VII -- has 512 students. It built a two-storey washroom block to house 42 units of toilets for the students. "No other school in Kasaragod or perhaps Kerala will have such amenity," said Narayanan.

The smart classrooms, toilet complex and library were built at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore sanctioned under the Public Education Rejuvenation Mission.

Around 50 headteachers and education officers of Hosdurg sub-district have already come to the school mostly to marvel at the makeover.

The centre-piece of the school is the pre-primary section. "The Samagra Shiksha Kerala selected our school to implement its model pre-primary project and sanctioned Rs 15 lakh for it," he said.
The school tapped four top artists of Kasraagod -- Surendran Kookanam, Vinod Ambalathara, Arun Raj, and Prasad Kanathumkal -- to make the pre-primary section. "They left their mark right from the entrance," said Narayanan.

The artists hid fables such as 'The Tortoise and the Hare', The Crow and the Pitcher', 'The Fox and the Grapes' in the entrance arch. "There are around 31 fables from Panchatantra and Aesop in the entrance. Children will find it very enganging. That is our idea," he said.

If the children wean themselves away from the entrance, they would be entering an 'erumadam', a 20 ft by 20ft classroom converted to a make-believe treehouse. "That is their play area," said the headteacher, who got the national award for teacher in 2015.

The school has paid attention to details. The inside looks like a park of a zoon, the stools are modeled like chenda (cylindrical percussion instrument). The eight corners of the play area are designated for eight activities -- mathematics, science, play, reading, music, creativity, threatre, and craft.

The library is another piece of art. Around 60 covers of famous novels are painted on the outside wall of the library. The pillars look like a stack of 100 books. Inside, there are 5,000 books. During the lockdown, the headmaster turned the schoolbus into a 'Pustaka Vandi' and sent it to the children once in every three months. The school has 19 local corners around Kanhangad. Children from the respective areas meet in their areas and organise events and functions during special days such as on Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Teachers are designated to run each corners. "The Pustaka Vandi delivers books to these corners and children return them in the next trip," he said.

In two years, the school will be 100 years old. Narayanan would be retiring in next March after 31 years of service and maynot be around for the centenary celebration. But he is leaving a legacy behind