Bengaluru techies help make two government schools popular again.

10-year-old Nikhil Gowda and sister Mithuna are among many kids who have left a private school to join the Government Higher Primary School in Ramagondanahalli, situated in the Bengaluru’s IT hub of Whitefield.

Even at that young age, the children are clear that the government school is better than the private school where they studied until last year. "Things are free here -like milk and computers," Nikhil says.

The past 3 years has seen enrolment at the Ramagondanahalli School go up by 41%. It is a similar story at the Government Higher Primary School in Nallurhalli, also in Whitefield. This flies in the face of recent reports that 2,958 government schools across Karnataka are facing closure due to having less than 10 students on their roll. As many as 207 schools in BENGALURU face a similar plight.

The engine of revival behind the Ramagondanahalli and Nallurhalli schools is a 50-member-strong group called Whitefield Ready comprising professionals from all walks of life. Volunteers from the group not only teach English and mathematics but are also instrumental in getting corporates to fund infrastructure for these schools. "The perception is slowly changing and kids are gradually moving back from private schools," said Sumedha Godkhindi, 43, who is leading the effort.

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The transformation of the 2 schools shows how a community can inject new life into government schools, often written off as substandard. Whitefield Ready facilitated the State Bank of India to finance a well equipped computer lab where children learn mathematics modules on Khan Academy. Xerox has funded toilets at the Nallurhalli School. Many more such corporate backed infrastructure projects are in the offing.

Uma Narayanan, who teaches English to Class IV at the Ramagondanahalli School, believes that many fear volunteering for a government school because of the language barrier. "People don't realise what they're missing. I had a group of kids who became so attached to me that I had to start teaching another class," she said.

A team of 60 volunteers from technology giant EMC teaches English comprehension at the Government High School in Varthur 4 days a week. Techie Shivakumar KR, who anchors this activity, found relevance in teaching when he realised his eldest child could read, write and do much more in Class 1 than a Class 8 student in this school. "This shakes you. And the excitement you see in a child who is learning is priceless." 

Suhas Nerurkar, an IITian who helped set up one of India's first ATMs, teaches mathematics to Class 7 students. "That so many of us are doing this shows the government's failure in running its own schools." 

Whitefield Ready recently adopted two more government schools at Siddapura and Immadihalli. 

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