‘There is future, let the school function’

The students of Class X and XII, who appeared in the Board examination this March, will be given certificates after the results are declared, says school principal Mahipat Nimavat. But the parents, who are mostly from humble backgrounds, are a worried lot.

“I don’t earn enough to pay for my son’s education in a private school. So, I enrolled him at Gandhi Vidyalaya in Class XI last year, even though he had studied in private schools before that. I wonder, where will I send him now?” asks Goswami (56) who himself has studied till Class VII.

The couple, who stays in a nondescript tenement on Popatpara Main Road, has six daughters and one son. Four of their daughters are married while the fifth one is pursuing her graduation in commerce. The sixth is a Class IX dropout. Parth (17) studied in private schools till Class X, when his parents used to pay Rs 12,500 annual fee. But last year, as their earnings fell, they admitted him to the government-run Gandhi Vidyalaya in Class XI (commerce) where the annual fee was just Rs 61. “We thought it was a good school and near our home. He can cycle to and for school and save money on transportation as well,” says Aruna (53).

Parth was happy to study in Gandhi vidyalaya. “Some of the teachers were very good and I was enjoying studying in Gandhi’s school. I was shocked when our class teacher G C Goswami sir told us last August that we would have to leave the school as it was being shut down. A few days ago, I received the school leaving certificate,” says Parth, still hoping the school will reopen and he will be able to give the certificate back to his teacher.

The teenager, who wants to work with the Indian Railways, adds that he will seek admission elsewhere if Gandhi Vidyalaya doesn’t reopen for the next academic session. Mandir says, “My father-in-law Harishankar had studied in Gandhi vidyalaya. He suggested us to send Yograj there and we agreed. Had we known that the school would close, we wouldn’t have sent him there.”

Former student Harishankar expresses a feeling of resignation. “It is so sad that Mahatma Gandhi’s school is being closed down. Teachers are to be blamed for the sorry state of affairs,” says Yograj’s 74-year old grandfather who was a student of Gandhi Vidyalaya in 1960. Yograj’s father is car driver of a doctor and the family lives in a rented home in Railnagar area of the city.

Earlier known as Alfred High School, Mohandas Gandhi Vidyalaya was established in 1853. Mahatma Gandhi attended the school from 1880 to 1887 for his secondary education. After Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) sent a proposal to the state government in 2016 to convert the school into a museum dedicated to the Father of the Nation, the latter gave a nod and ordered transfer of students to alternative schools. Consequently, the students were first moved into the building of Karansinhji High School last year. But now, the government has ordered its complete closure and the students are being given their school-leaving certificates.

Parth’s mother is furious at the museum proposal. “There already is a museum in Jubilee Baug near the school. There is also Kaba Gandhi no Delo, Mahatma Gandhi’s home. How many people visit it? What does the government intend to do by shutting down Gandhi’s school and turn it into a museum?” asks Aruna who has studied till Class X and is a homemaker now. Watson Museum in Jubilee Baug houses artefacts of ancient India.

Even the teachers are anxious. All 13 teachers will be transferred to other schools. “I sincerely believe there is a future for this school. I concede, the number of students is very less now but the school has 42 rooms. Allow the school to function out of a few and use the rest for the museum project. If not, let it function out of an alternative building so that Mahatma’s school remains alive,” says a teacher, requesting anonymity.

The government and the RMC have been citing dwindling number of students and their poor performance for past many years as reasons to shut the school down. But some teachers allege the school results dropped due to negligence on part of the education department. “The performance of the school worsened despite the fact that the district education officer (DEO) has his office in the same building. He could well observe the school activities directly from his office. Corruption in postings of teachers has brought the school to this position,” complains another teacher.

The office of Rajkot DEO has been functioning out of the southern wing of the building for the past seven years. Former teachers of the school seem divided on the issue. “This school is as old as the Indian Railways. It seems the administration is more efficient to run a museum than a school now. But then, one has to remember there already are Gandhi museums in Mumbai and Delhi. However, I am happy that the museum is coming up and I hope it will have a section dedicated to Mahatma’s days at this school,” says Satishchandra Mandlik who was principal of Gandhi Vidyalaya from 1980 to 1984.

Others are more drastic in their assessment. “The government has managed to sell the unsaleable. Private interest will drive the museum project. There were simply not enough teachers over the last one decade at the school. This directly affected the board results and pushed enrollment numbers down. If you can’t run the school properly, why not hand it over to some NGO and give it an opportunity to change its fate?” asks Chandrakant Mandir, a former student who later served as a teacher at the school for 36 years.

Gandhians, on the other hand, say merely dwindling number of students and their poor performance cannot be an excuse to shut down the school entirely. “The premises will continue to be recognised as Gandhi’s school as long as students are there. Without them, the school will be reduced to a building where Mahatma once studied. I agree the school can’t go on with just 150 students. But efforts should be made to rejuvenate it. For example, handicraft classes can be started. Some NGO can do the job,” suggests Ushakant Mankad (86), president of Gandhi Smruti Trust, Rajkot.

Dhiru Dobariya, secretary of another Gandhian organisation Rashtriya Shala Trust, says Mohandas Gandhi Vidyalaya deserves special treatment by the government. “It is not just any other government school. It is Mahtama Gandhi’s school. Enrollment is going down at almost all government schools. But can this school be shut down like any other? This is the school where his journey from Mohandas to Mahatma began,” he says.