A government girls school gets Rotary bounty
The Government Girls High School at Mogappair East, which is adopted by RC Chennai Mid City, D 3232, has now been given a spanking new 200-metre athletic track. Once a school with a dilapidated building, the campus now has a neatly laid-out playground, four toilet blocks, a feeder school, a new kitchen for mid-day meals, an indoor games arena, an e-learning lab, a well-stocked library and purified drinking water.
Under the Empowering Girl Child Mission, the club first built a toilet (2007–08), and later after an MoU with the State government added more facilities to make it a model school.
Slowly the academic performance improved, the old building was replaced by a new Rotary block at a cost of
₹1.4 crore, which was inaugurated in December 2016, said past president and Chair of the Mogappair School Task Force L Ashok. “The objective is to do ‘intensive community service’ by providing all facilities including sports infrastructure and also take care of their maintenance,” informs S Muzhumathi, Rotary Coordinator and a teacher.
The school has now applied for an upgrade into a higher secondary school, up to Class 12 and proposes to double the number of girls to 800.
To make quality education affordable to the poor children, the Anns of the club will form a committee along with the teachers to ensure the school is properly managed and maintained.
District basketball champion S Shembaruthi (Class 9) and her friend V Gangadevi are elated that they can now improve their game with the addition of this new sport facility.
At the inauguration of the athletic track, DG R Srinivasan complimented the club and the teachers for their “dedication and enthusiasm”, adding that though RC Chennai Mid City “keeps a low profile, they do excellent projects like this one.”
Legislator V Alexander who inaugurated the track lauded the Rotarians for their humanitarian projects.
Club President Deepak Rajendran said so far ₹2.5 crore has been spent on the school, and all the money was raised through donations and leveraging the contacts of the club members.
Eppendorf India has funded the construction of the athletic track which cost ₹19 lakh.
Picture by V Muthukumaran
