The government funds were not sufficient to build the compound wall and further the money spent towards it was able to create only a half-constructed wall. The teachers and students felt that a compound wall was an absolute necessity for the school considering the hostile local environment.
- There had been repeated instances of local youth loitering in the school premises and pestering the students.
- Tourists cars were also frequently parked in the school campus and sometimes disturbed the classrooms by playing loud music.
- The school play ground was unusable since it was used as a public garbage dump and latrine
Considering the above factors and also a hope that a more formal school space would improve the sense of a school amongst the students, Asha Bangalore has decided to go ahead and construct the wall.
Asha Bangalore has also been trying to get the parents to be more actively involved in the school issues, but the response has been lukewarm. The last time when a meeting was organized to go and demand additional teachers from the BEO only 20 parents (for 340 students) turned up. It was felt that Asha’s involvement was not visibly felt in the community and if we contribute to a visible asset may be it would motivate the parents to participate more. This theory is yet to be tested!
The construction started on Oct 9th, 2007 and here are some photographs of the work in progress
Sump for drinking water (15000 litres)
Wall (to the right of entrance)
Wall (to the left of entrance)
