146 years old co-educational boarding and day school catering children between ages five to eighteen
The Rajkumar College situated in Rajkot, Gujarat, is headed by Mr. Shankar Singh Adhikari as Principal for the last 3 years. About his experience in the school, Mr. Adhikari says “Very nice. I must tell you this school is the oldest public school in the country. It is 146 years old.” He was a student of the Rajkumar College in Raipur where he also worked as Vice Principal for 15 years and then came to The Rajkumar College in Rajkot as principal. He has also worked in Indian School, Muscat.
He says:
· Both have the same culture as they belong to royal family and both are boarding schools. There is not much of cultural difference.
· It is a co-education boarding school for both boys and girls.
He prefers working in boarding schools because interaction with the children is more in boarding school than in a day school.
In boarding schools, there is personal interaction, you know everything about the child, his likes, his dislikes, his family, everything. He also says he has not faced any problems since his is a boarding school for boys and girls. When you call and talk to the children, they understand.
When asked how The Rajkumar College is different from other boarding schools, Mr. Adhikari says, “My school has collection of students mostly Gujaratis from India and abroad. I find that both manners and conduct wise, they are far better… Both from the parents’ side and children’s side, the response is much better.”
The school is affiliated to CBSE board and is doing well. The school also tries to satisfy the parents’ requirement of overall development of the children by conducting competitions, elocution, debates in English and Hindi, and sports.
Mr. Adhikari says:
· All opportunities are given to students.
· When somebody is good in music, the school promotes them, send them to interact with great people, conduct seminars to mix with all great musicians.
· Be it sports or education children are encouraged if they are interested in a particular field.
Student Achievements
About the achievements of the students in various fields, Mr. Adhikari says that one of the students got Sardar Vallabh Bhai Award for shooting and she has won 25 medals in her 3 years of career in shooting. She is participating in a shooting competition for All India ranking and might get a place in the Indian team. Yet another student has participated in football in the national level.
Recently Thomas Cook conducted a travel fest where the students won a free trip to Malaysia. In the competition “Finding Kalaam” conducted by the Extramarks Education of India, the students are appearing for the finals in Rashtrapathi Bhavan. They have won a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakh also.
In order to promote effective communication, Mr. Adhikari says that the school uses four languages, English, Hindi, Gujarati, and French. “We have inter-house competitions in all 4 languages, from juniors to seniors, divided into 3 groups and we have girls side and boys’ side also.”
On how teachers are motivating and cooperative, Mr. Adhikari has this to say:
· “Teachers are supposed to be the most knowledgeable but the child may have gained more knowledge from computers.”
· So the teachers have to change the plan to be computer savvy, technology savvy, and use technology for knowledge in all the subjects.
· 3 seminars are conducted in the school every year for the teachers to use technology. · They also make modules for their classes.
Mr. Adhikari says “You cannot ignore IT. We have computer labs for each section. In the boarding also internet access is there.” Smart boards are used in classes. He says that every school has problem in hiring good teachers. In earlier days teachers used to continue in the same school for a long time but nowadays teachers “want to change jobs within a short time and if they get more challenges, they go there.” The Rajkumar College also faces challenges in this regard but they continue because of good salary structure, free education for their children and housing facility inside the campus.
About girls participating willingly in sports, Mr. Adhikari points out that games are compulsory for both boys and girls. When motivated girls show interest in a particular sport, they are encouraged to play with other schools in inter-public school competitions and from there to get selected to national teams.
Mr. Adhikari concludes saying, “Education has changed, and teachers have changed. We have to keep up with the time and changing patterns.”
For more information, please visit: http://rkcrajkot.com/
Contact
The Principal
The Rajkumar College, Dr. Radhakrishnan Road
Rajkot – 360 001
Gujarat
Phone : +91-281-2466064, 2481032
E-mail : contact@rkcrajkot.com, principal@rkcrajkot.com