Prof G. R. Godara
Prof Guggan Ram (G. R.) Godara, is a retired college lecturer of Kaimri village in Hisar district of Haryana. Before his retirement he was a lecturer in Geography at Government College Hisar. He has taken upon himself the responsibility to ensure that every child—at least in his vicinity—gets proper education.
For this, he meets the parents of school dropouts or those children who are not enrolled in any school, asks them the reason behind this and tries to help them out as far as possible. He motivates the parents to send their children to school. If required, he arranges financial aid to get them going to school.
Then, Prof Godara meets school principals and teachers to know about their problems. He usually targets government schools in rural areas. The major problems faced by these schools are of infrastructure and lack of furniture and lab equipment.
After this, he approaches panchayat members, officials concerned or the local legislators and apprises them of the situation. Generally, such things get settled at this level. If required, he also raises donations.
Besides, the educationist offers to give lectures to school children on a voluntary basis. He also arranges remedial classes for weak students. “Despite the right to education being a constitutional right, a large number of children remain uneducated. It is the moral duty of each one of us to ensure that no child is deprived of education,” he observes.
And all his efforts have borne fruit. The results of the government schools in his village, which used to be below the average Board results, have shown a marked improvement and are now better than the average result.
With active support from several school principals and administrative officials, Prof Godara has formed an education reforms committee involving around 10 schools of Hisar and nearby rural areas.
“This committee arranges debates, poetry-recitation contests, science quizzes, symposiums and other competitions,” says Mr Baljit Singh Sehrawat, the Principal of a local government school. Such contests are organised by the committee on a monthly basis.
Those running the committee claim that the students participating in these contests gain a lot from the programme and excel in various disciplines.
If the efforts of a single person can make such a big difference, the outcome of sincere collective efforts can well be imagined.
References
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050607/edu.htm http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061114/edu.htm
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