From less than 50 per cent in Class 10 and over 100 students enrolled outside the village to private schools commuting a distance of as much as 100 kilometre, Kubadharol High School did a turn around to over 93 per cent result and not a single student from the village seeking secondary education outside the village.
With the community resolution passed in 2017, Kubadharol, a small village in Sabarkantha district’s Vadali taluka, not only provided infrastructure to the village school but also decided that no parent will send their children outside the village for studies.
“Until 2017-18, over 100 children from the village would go to private schools as far as Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. The same year, the school’s Class 10 result was less than 50 per cent,” Kubadharol Yuvak Mandal chairman Ravindra K Patel said.
“The same year, villagers got together, arranged for infrastructure in the school like computers and projectors while the Ahmedabad-based Dr K R Shroff Foundation helped the school with their teachers for Class 9 and 10. We held meetings with parents and passed a resolution that no child would leave the village for secondary education,” Patel added.
The Yuvak Mandal is managing the high school—Class 9 and 10 of the Kubadharol grant-in-aid high school attached to the government primary school.
Ravindra is one such parent whose son Chaitanya cleared Class 10 from the village with 87 per cent in 2020 while his daughter Nishtha, studying in Class 9, has achieved the first position in the National Merit cum Means Scholarship (NMMS) exam.
Convincing parents was not easy initially, says Hiteshbhai Patel, the Prinicpal of Kubadharol High School. “We held repeated meetings with all the parents and convinced them that with the infrastructure facilities like digital aids and teachers available at the school, it is at par with any other private school to which they are sending their children,” Patel said.
“It was tough initially but gradually as the results started improving, parents had faith in us and things got better. In 2020 SSC exam, 36 students had appeared in board exam, out of which, 78 per cent could clear. This year in the Class 10 exam, 30 students had appeared, out of which, 28 students could clear Class 10 with a pass percentage of over 93 per cent while 3 students have scored more than 90 per cent” he added.
Vasubhai Patel, father of Kavya, who secured 94 per cent in 2022 Class 10 Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board results, said, “Because there were no teachers in secondary school, students were forced to move out of village for Class 9 and 10. But after Kubadharol school got support from the foundation with Math, Science and English teachers for Class 9 and 10 students and the infrastructure improved, we decided to not send our children outside the village and we are happy that we took this decision.”
“Dr K R Shroff Foundation started working with Kubadharol school in 2012. At that point of time, children of farm labours and from economically weak background were studying in government primary schools and majority of the village children were studying in private schools in Vadali. Gradually, the school result and student attendance improved due to committed and dedicated effort made by Dr K R Shroff Foundation teachers,” says Uday Desai, president Dr K R Shroff Foundation.
This also saw the increase in enrollment at the school. From an enrollment in the higher school (Class 9 and 10) to 52 in the year 2017, it is 76 in the year 2022-23.
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