Mysuru Railway Staff Transform Old Train Coaches Into Colourful Classrooms For Govt School

In the bid to attract kids and to increase student count in government schools, several states in the country including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan have painted schools to look like a train. The classrooms were made to look like train bogies and coloured in shades of blue, yellow and red with windows resembling that of a train’s compartment.

However, the students of this classroom in Mysuru, Karnataka will actually get to study in the coaches of trains, thanks to the employees of the South Western Railway. The railway employees volunteered to refurbish two scrap train coaches into classrooms and donated them to the Railway Colony Primary School in Mysuru. The coaches that are named as ‘Nali Kali’ (joyful learning) were inaugurated last week, reported TOI.

The coaches were freshly painted and were equipped with fans and panels sourced from other wagons. “We spent a total of Rs 50,000. It was a collective idea of the workshop employees and carried out as part of corporate social responsibility. Majority of the children studying in this school are from families below the poverty line,” said chief workshop manager P Srinivasu where the coaches were renovated.

The government school earlier didn’t have a building of its own hence the students had been studying in one of the buildings of the workshop since the past two decades. But now, “the coaches will be an added encouragement for students and the teachers,” said a railway staff.

“These coaches have been fully refurbished. They have fans and adequate lighting to provide a comfortable learning environment for the students. Two bio-toilets have also been provided. One coach will serve as a classroom for classes 4 and 5 and have been fitted with teaching aids. Another will be an activity hall for all students,” Srinivasu said. The exteriors, painted a rich lavender shade, depict ecological themes.

This is indeed a good way to reuse the scrap coaches and also give the kids an added reason to come to the school and study. Kudos to the railway employees!