Tent school was fun

With privatisation of school education, we now come across schools with "International", "Global" and "Techno" etc. Though tagging has stopped, the parents continue to flock to such schools just because the rooms are air conditioned etc. In my working years, I had the privilege of visiting UK in mid- Eighties and staying there for nearly three months. During my stay, I visited more than hundred schools meant for Asian children in and around London.

These schools, of course were located in places mostly in areas where the Asian families live. They were different than what it was then in India. Back home, as part leading the Examination Division, I had visited many schools to promote English language examination and to check infrastructure available for conduct of exam. As a part of such visits, I have been to boarding schools, elite day scholar schools and also schools with little facilities for the children, but never come across a school in a tent.

My own schooling in Delhi, I had the joy of studying in "Tent" school up to Class Three. before our branch got into a building, the foundation for which was laid by India's first PM Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1958. It was sheer joy studying inside Tent Class room. It was simple heavy duty cloth conical tent with foldable window was sheer beauty to peep out to witness children enjoying the PT period in the ground. The flooring was again simple brick placed over sand.

In the first standard when I joined the school we were made to sit on the floor with small wooden writing desk and by the time I reached second standard we managed to sit on a four seater bench and table. Rain, Shine or chilly winter, we withstood rough weather with all with joy. Winter and rainy season was always combination of joy and fear.

Rainy days, of course, gave us opportunity to float paper boat quietly sent outside. During winter months, when the sun gods use to show up, we would wait for our teacher to take us outside in open to conduct the class.

Thankfully those days the wind god was kind and generally showed anger in the form of dust storm only during summer vacation and therefore we never faced any mishap as tents even if comes down, it would only over the empty class rooms It was at the end of third class, we were finally able to enter concrete class rooms with black board fixed on the wall.

During my visits to schools in many parts of India, I have seen swanky schools, some of which are similar to five star hotels., I now wonder whether children would ever get the joy of studying in a tent school. Or due to changing pattern of schooling due to fear of Corona, would we see a school which may call itself "XYZ Tent School" instead of the tag 'Talent' to attract the children to study in partially open school?