Vadnagar, Gujarat: Paintings of Jesus Christ, Zarathustra, holy places of Islam, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maharana Pratap, Chandrashekhar Azad and Bal Gangadhar Tilak adorn the freshly-painted walls of the Vadnagar primary school for boys in Gujarat’s Mehsana district, located a little over 100 kilometres from the capital Ahmedabad.
There are also blackboards with diagrams of the human respiratory and digestive systems, among other things.
The school, at first glance, may look humble, but is a heritage structure and well known by now thanks to one notable alumnus — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was born in Vadnagar town and grew up here.
Now, the school is undergoing a restoration process, conducted by the Gujarat wing of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and preparing to host a new generation of students who will come to the school and “take inspiration from his (Modi’s) life”, Sharad Modi, principal of the school, told ThePrint. The restoration is in its final stages.
Over 60 years ago, Modi, as a young student, had walked these very halls, studying from class 1 to class 7 at the school. Located near his ancestral home in Vadnagar’s Darbargadh area, the school was set up in 1888 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad and was then known as the ‘Vernacular school’. Back then, Vadnagar was part of the Baroda state ruled by Sayajirao Gaekwad III.
An amphitheater for cultural performances, an art gallery, a hostel and a pantry are also under construction on land adjacent to the school.
“The school was renamed Prerna Kendra (inspiration centre) in 2017 when the Gujarat government had also declared it a heritage property and decided to restore it to its old glory,” said a senior Gujarat education department official, who wished to not be named. “Once the renovated school is inaugurated, children from across India will be brought here and given lessons in art, culture and history. They will attend motivational classes and learn about leadership skills.”
Scheduled to be inaugurated in 2024, the school plans to host selected students — one or two from each of the Indian states — to be part of the same classrooms where the PM studied in the 1950s and be taught a short course over one week, the Gujarat education department official said.
“The criteria for selection of students is being worked out by the Union education ministry. The curriculum that will be taught is also under works. It will not be the usual school course,” the official added.
According to the school’s principal Sharad Modi, during the restoration process, the students of the primary school for boys were shifted to the primary school for girls, located just a stone’s throw away. “Both the girls and boys’ schools were eventually merged and it became Vadnagar Primary School Number 1,” he said.
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‘Idea is to recreate the way the school was’
After restoration, the double-storey primary school building is meant to look like it did when Modi was a student here.
“We have dug out old photographs of the school and how it looked like earlier. Be it the paintings on the wall of the school as well as the classrooms, the teak-coloured wooden pillars and railings, the idea is to recreate the school the way it was,” an official of the ASI working on the project site told ThePrint.
The paintings of religious figures and freedom fighters are meant to showcase religious equality and, according to the ASI official, were also on the walls in the 1950s. The paintings, including that of Muslim shrines, have inscriptions underneath them calling for global peace across religions.
“The renovation is nearing completion,” the official said, adding that the construction of the hostel and amphitheater will take time. “It is scheduled to be completed next year,” he said.
While the renovation of the school is being done by the ASI, which comes under the Union culture ministry, the construction of the amphitheatre, hostel and other structures is being carried out by the Gujarat government.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union minister of state for culture Arjun Singh Meghwal are among the central ministers who have visited the primary school to assess the ongoing renovation work.
A provision of Rs 2 crore to start Prerna Kendra at Vadnagar was made in the 2022-23 education department budget of the Gujarat government. Back in 1888, the vernacular school was built by Gaekwad at a cost of Rs 16,023.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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