Your child has completed six years. So now, you must think about his/her primary education.
"Your child has completed six years. So now, you must think about his/her primary education. Here is a wonderful school in your vicinity, where knowledge is imparted in the mother tongue, along with training of English and computers in an open and sporty environment. The only school of this kind is Zilla Parishad Upper Primary Marathi Shala, Bodegaon."
This is an invitation letter-cum-pamphlet currently being distributed to households having kids of school-going age across the village of Bodegaon in Yavatmal district. The invitation bears the name of school principal Umakant Mahitkar, president Prahlad Chavan and vice president Hansraj Khandare as hosts.
Thanks to cut-throat competition posed by private schools, several government schools — zilla parishad and nagar parishad schools — in Yavatmal district have been sending feelers to parents for the past two weeks. The aggressive marketing using banners, hoardings and pamphlets aims to woo kids aged between three years and six for admission in KG and Std I before private schools swoop down on them.
The colourful descriptive ads include photographs of schools infrastructure and various kids' activities, along with the mobile phone numbers of principal and other school officials, so that parents can contact them immediately.
The advertisement of a zilla parishad school of Januna village in Umarkhed taluka highlights its major attraction as 'top-quality free education which prepares kids for (the) competitive world, semi-English medium teaching, free books and uniforms, midday meals, which includes dry fruits, English lab, computer training, library, sports facilities, regular parents' meeting, school savings bank, and all social projects', with pictures alongside.
Such lucrative offers and that too for free are unlikely to go unnoticed and have the potential to effectively counter the aggressive marketing of the private English medium schools nearby.
With the enrolment in zilla parishad schools declining, they don't really have a choice. As per statistics obtained from the school education department, the decline is 8-10% a year. If teachers and principals don't step up their efforts to improve, they face closure sooner or later.
Principal of an Urdu medium nagar parishad school in Gandhinagar village of Yavatmal Abdul Qayum says, "This is a fight for existence. If government schools don't take corrective measures and advertise themselves, they will be forced to close down."
The district has close to 2,000 government and aided schools as against 500-odd unaided schools run by private organisations, with the latter number increasing every year.
One zilla parishad shala in Warud village calls itself a 'digital innovative' school and offers 'Convent pattern' English medium education, which aims to change the perception among society that government schools can't be innovative.
And these schools are not boasting. They have worked hard on improving on all parameters over the past year, especially on infrastructure due to which they have been losing students to private schools. They have installed slides, swings and other games on their playgrounds, arranged for computers, toys and out of course books, and painted colourful images on the boundary wall and in classrooms.
Schools say district's education officer Dr Suchita Patekar is the guiding force behind the transformation.
She has created a WhatsApp group of school teachers and principals in the district to bring them on a common platform and communicate with them regularly. "This keeps all of us informed and in touch with each other and also helps us share the information in one go," says JS Pathan, a teacher of Warud ZP school.
Admitting to the falling enrolment in zilla and nagar parishad schools, Patekar says, "You can call it an image makeover exercise. Our objective is to change the perception of government schools among people, especially the poor, who spend their hard-earned money in private schools, thinking they offer better education."
The trend, limited to Yavatmal district as of now, is inspiring schools in the neighbouring districts of Washim and Akola. A few schools are planning to follow this model.
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