When The District Collector's Office In Kozhikode Turned Into A School

Kozhikode: Two eight-year-old girls are among the students whose government-aided school was recently shut down because it was economically not sustainable. But the children have not given up on their dreams yet, because someone took notice and decided to change things around.

Prashanth N, the district collector of Kozhikode is also known as the 'Collector Bro'. When 63 students had no school, he asked his staff to vacate a hall and set-up what is now called "The Collectorate School".

"They needed a space and what better place than the Collectorate. This is also about giving out the right message to the people that their children are not alone," Mr Prashanth said.
 The School's Principal Preeti GM said, "The collector met the students, told them they would study here. They are very happy, because otherwise the school would have been on streets".

There are over 5,000 unprofitable schools in Kerala, which don't have the minimum number of students to make them sustainable.

While temporary arrangement is very heartening, the larger issue is also about infrastructure and quality of education provided in government-aided schools which often shut down because of lack of funds.