MEERUT: Ten-year-old Monika gets out of bed on tiptoes every morning while the rest of her family is still in deep slumber. She pulls a textbook out of her bag and sits on the floor of her two-room house before leaving for classes at the nearby Rajpura primary school in Meerut . A student of class V, Monika had dropped out of this institute in 2013 over lack of basic amenities, waterlogged classrooms, incomplete set of textbooks and no benches to sit. Five years down the line, the Rajpura primary school is a talk of the town, even among the coveted private schools of nearby areas.From paintings adoring the walls of this institute, a library consisting of 500 books, an LED TV for interactive sessions, desks and benches, the Rajpura primary school is unlike any other government institute. It even has tiled floors with the alphabets of Hindi varnamala to help students remember letters. What was once a grim picture of infrastructure has now transformed into a lively school where children look forward to learning new things every day.“I did not like studying here earlier and remained at home for nearly a year. It was only when my parents saw the new facilities in the school that they were convinced enough to send me again,” said Monika.In 2013, when Pushpa Yadav joined the school as its principal there were barely 60 students. “Waterlogging was a recurrent concern, especially during the rainy season. The school used to remain shut for several days. There were not many reasons for the kids to come to school. Today, there are 157 students studying here. We have been working on zero dropout rate,” said Yadav. Assisting the principal are four other teachers to look after pupils from classes I to V.So how exactly did Yadav bring about these changes? “I started going from house-to-house in the village convincing parents to send their wards to the school. Many of them had told me how they preferred to keep their children at home due to lack of facilities in the institute. It was then that I took help of one of my relatives and painted the school walls with colourful pictures to attract kids,” she said.Soon, former Samajwadi Party MLC Sarojini Agarwal donated funds for the school’s flooring to stop waterlogging issues. Yadav then persuaded the then district magistrate for funds to build toilets.“Donations soon began pouring as people saw the revamped infrastructure of the school. Some contributed fans, others an LED TV and many even gave books. In our well-stocked library, students today can pick a book of their choice, read or write in them too,” added Yadav.There are bulletin boards in the school containing details about teachers and bright paintings line its walls.

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