It started with a single act of good intention, and like a forest fire, spread out to 13 districts of Uttarakhand. Back in 2015, when Geetika Joshi, a 2010 batch Uttarakhand state civil services officer, took the initiative of contributing her own funds to transform a ramshackle government primary school in Ranikhet, she perhaps did not realize that it would kick-start a chain reaction. No wonder her small efforts have turned out to be a big educational initiative for the state government.
The initiative is now called `Roopantran’. In 2018, the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat, launched it as an educational scheme to modernize the government schools in the Almora district.
The concept which started with a single primary school in Tarikhet block of Almora district has now expanded to more than 160 government schools all over the state. In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Geetika Joshi who is now serving as the Deputy Education Officer in Kashipur district spoke about how she got inspired and how the implementation of an idea got scaled up to a level she had not foreseen.
INITIAL STEPS
Speaking about it, Ms. Joshi said “When I got posted as the DEO of Tarikhet block in 2015, I came across an old dilapidated building near my office which was actually a government primary school. As it is a hilly area, the children studying there were suffering from the cold due to the poor infrastructure and facilities. This struck me hard and I immediately thought of contributing some bit of my own salary to improve the condition of the building, in particular its leaking roofs.”
“Initially with the help of my friends, husband, and other family members I planned to collect some funds which I could put in for the transformation of the school. Gradually, we beautified the building and improving the infrastructure adding facilities like smart tv, etc. This also led to a reduction in absentee students,” she added.
An amount of more than Rs 2.5 lakhs was raised by the officers’ family to modernize the primary school. The school got a decent transformation but the initiative taken by the government officer was lacking the traction it should have actually got.
A HELPING HAND FROM AN IAS OFFICER
The noble initiative taken by Ms. Joshi got its first real recognition after IAS officer Himanshu Khurana stepped in as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Ranikhet, in October 2017. This was the first individual posting of the 2015-batch IAS as he just completed his under training and foundation course in LBSNAA.
While speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Khurana said “As it was practically my first posting, I called a meeting with all the departments to review their work. So, when I reviewed the education department, I came across the initiatives taken by officers like Geetika Joshi. Considering the efforts made by them I visited the school where the initiative was taken. After reviewing their work, I was highly impressed and wanted to focus on transforming individual schools in the area.”
“Initially it was a small effort, as we planned on improving the school’s infrastructure by adding good furniture and beautifying the schools with painting etc. To make studies more interesting, we installed basic smart TVs where slides and other learning material can be played”, he added.
The timely intervention by the IAS officer was the only thing that was needed to boost the concept of Ms. Joshi in the eyes of the administrators. Soon after transforming another school in Ranikhet, Mr. Khurana took the concept in front of the then DM of Almora, Eva Ashish Srivastava. Ms. Joshi said, “The DM also visited the school and admired the transformation we made out of the old dilapidated building.”
Things picked up pace thereafter. the DM pushed the sanctioned budget from the Untied Fund. Mr. Khurana said, “A huge contribution was also made by the local MLA, Karan Singh Mahra, out of which good quality furniture was procured. Other than that, we also asked the local people and departmental officers to contribute in any way possible.”
LAUNCHING `ROOPANTRAN’
All these small steps resulted in excellent outcomes, and the initiative got recognized by the state government in April 2018, when former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat launched it in the entire Almora district.
The main objective of the initiative was to provide a safe and fully facilitated environment for the children, which would increase their presence in schools and improve their learning level. Facilities like smart TV, projectors for joyful learning, basic needs of students like notebooks, sweaters, shoes and school bags, clean washrooms, colour-painted walls, etc. were being provided.
Gradually, by modernizing one school after another in the Almora district, the initiative scaled up to the state level where all the 13 districts were chosen to implement the initiative. For every district three schools were selected for transformation.
Not only that, but the initiative is also focusing on providing nutritious mid-day meals to the students.
