It is no secret that private schools are the preferred choice when it comes to education, but a government-run higher secondary school in the village of Gondahur in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district is setting the trend by being the first preference among people in the district.

Schools situated in the deeply forested villages in the district often find it difficult to run classes on all working days of an academic session, but the government school in Gondahur remains functional across the year, even during the summer vacation. Having achieved remarkable results over the past few years, the government school, which comes under the Koyelibeda block, has not only managed to gain popularity across the block and district, but also succeeded in achieving recognition across the state and even the country. The high quality of education imparted at the school has not only brought in more students, but also created employment opportunities for the villagers and those residing in adjacent areas.

“Excellent teaching methods leading to significant results in board examination of Class X and Class XII conducted by Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education has brought fame to the school at block, district and state-level. While few schools find it tough to run classes in the academic session, the government school of Gondahur has classes round the year, even in summer vacation,” said an officer of the district administration, adding that the quality of education has changed significantly due to continuation of classes during summer.

The school remains closed on Sunday for most of the year, but during summer, classes are held on all seven days of the week and witness full attendance, the officer added. The school’s principal, Arun Kirtaniya, personally takes classes, along with the other teaching staff on a regular basis during summer, and to ensure comfort for the students during the extreme hot weather, the school management has installed coolers in classrooms.

Around 50 students from other blocks are enrolled in the school. Given the higher enrolment of students, Gondahur has seen many new businesses, such as hotels, photocopy shops, stationary shops, and transportation, starting up, which has resulted in higher income for the villagers. Moreover, villagers are also making extra income by renting living space to around 50 students who reside in Gondahur for their studies.

Around 15 students from other blocks enrolled here in academic session 2014-15. This number rose to 23 in 2015-16, and 30 in 2016-17. Around 40 students from other blocks were enrolled in 2017-18, and there are over 50 students from other blocks as of now.

Students from the school are working at reputed organisations in big cities, and some have managed to secure seats in recognised educational institutes of Chhattisgarh. In the last five academic sessions, the pass percentage of students in class XII was 100 percent for three times, and more than 95 percent twice.