SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Dec 20: The famous ‘Blackboard’ model of Dumarthar village Middle School, Dumka has hit the streets of New York, London and Tokyo and has drawn massive appreciation.
Nikon India Company Limited had held an exhibition of the school’s class pictures on roads of the aforementioned cities with the caption ‘Mud wall turns into blackboard’. This is the first time that the teaching model of a government school in India has been showcased in foreign countries and that too in three continents simultaneously.
Dumka’s tribal dominated Dumarthan village in Jarmundi block, around 43 km away from district headquarters, shot into limelight in the country for its innovative teaching model during the Corona pandemic.
When offline classes in all the educational institutions across the country were closed, Dumka’s Dumarthar village school management turned mud walls of the roadside houses in the village into ‘blackboard’ and continued the classes on the streets while maintaining social distance. This school has 302 students enrolled in it and never closed even for a day during the entire lockdown in 2020.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the school’s model in one of his Sunday’s ‘Man ki Baat’ episodes. Besides the PM, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh invited the school principal to New Delhi for shedding light on the model. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the education department had also highly appreciated the model.
“I feel proud as the model of Dumarthar village school and pictures of children have appeared on the roads of New York, London and Tokya in appreciation,” said Swapan Kumar, the principal of the middle school, who innovated the ‘Blackboard’ model.
He went on to say that because guardians of these students are poor and do not have smartphones, there was no way to teach them through online classes. As a result, he decided to adapt the mud wall of roadside cottages into a classroom and continue teaching.
“This is the second time that exhibition pictures of the Dumarthar school model have been displayed in foreign countries. Earlier, an exhibition was organized in China, Columbia, Canada, Argentina and South Africa also,” the principal added.
