In brigand’s village, revolutionary teachers slog 14 hrs a day

Bengaluru: Gopinatham, a verdant village that lived in the fear of its brigand son Veerappan, now looks forward to a bright future for its children. All thanks to a high school that started here after the brigand’s death, and its dedicated teachers who work nothing less than 14 hours a day.
During Veerappan’s time, no one attended the primary school there.Trapped between Veerappan and police, villagers either fled Gopinatham or took sides in the battle and suffered the consequences.
As villagers started returning to the region after his death in 2004, a government high school was established in Gopinatham in 2005.
Headmaster M Mahendra told TOI he and his two colleagues struggled to get students to the school. “We started the school with less than 20 students. Villagers were not interested in sending their kids to school. They felt cattle-grazing and other odd jobs were better options,” he said.
Mahendra and his team convinced villagers to send their wards to school; they even sponsored bright students by paying their fees.
The teachers’ dedication and hard work reflected in the school achieving 100% result in 2009 SSLC exams. Today, Gopinatham High School has 76 Class IX and Class X students, of which 38 are girls. “In 2013, we achieved 96.77% in SSLC. Twenty nine students appeared for the exams. While 14 students secured first class, seven got second class. We need more staff, particularly for the computer section. We have four computers but no teacher,” Mahendra added.
The high school is now Gopinatham’s treasured possession and villagers are ready to go to any extent to retain its dedicated teachers. Teacher Bhagya is a case in point. Popular as Bhagyamma, she teaches Kannada and social studies. Earlier this year, Bhagya was transferred to Kollegal. As the news of transfer spread, over 100 villagers walked to the BEO office in Chamrajnagar, demanding cancellation of the order.
“The transfer order was ready and reversing it meant a whole lot of paper work. However, we requested the education department to cancel the transfer, explaining to them how important it was to retain Bhagyamma. We succeeded in getting the transfer cancelled,” says Shantha Sugandi, a parent from Gopinatham.
The school building on Gopinatham-Hogenkal road has no compound wall it is built on land belonging to former MLA Parimala Nagappa. “We want the land to be transferred in the school’s name at the earliest. The contractor hasn’t been paid for his work. We neither have good toilets nor a compound wall,” says another teacher.