It is 5 a.m. on Wednesday. The wake up bell for the inmates of Gandhi Grameen Gurukul Residential School at Hosaritti (Haveri district in Karnataka) has already been rung. Like other inmates of the Gurukul, Class VIII students Ravi Lamani, Vijay Karennavar and Yallappa Talawar have completed their daily chores and are ready for the All Religion Prayer at 5.30 a.m.
They have special duties assigned to them for the day. After prayer, yoga and bath, they have to reach the kitchen as early as possible as ‘kitchen duty’ has been assigned to their ‘Vivekananda House’. Likewise the members of various houses named after freedom fighters and eminent personalities have been assigned various duties including serving food, cleaning up premises and other works.
At 8.30 a.m., the breakfast bell rings and within a few minutes children clad in khadi uniforms wearing Gandhi caps assemble at the ‘Prasad Nilaya’ (Dining Hall) carrying their plates and glasses. The designated kitchen volunteers for the day quickly serve them breakfast and nutrition drinks. Once everyone is served, they recite shlokas in chorus, and bow down to Mother Earth before beginning to eat.
After breakfast, they have time till 9.45 a.m., and then they assemble again for school prayer. But Class X students like Lingaraja Mahabalashettar, Naveengouda Patil, Karthik Mathapati, Balesh Dalawai have to attend special classes.
At the prayer time, the khadi clad students sing patriotic songs, state and national anthem. Chosen students take a minute each to speak about a topic in each subject and languages. Headlines of Kannada and English dailies are also read out. Students then hurry to their classes as they are reminded that only 95 days are remaining for the SSLC examination.
Off-beat classes
Their classes, however, are very different from how they are in normal schools. Every week they spend five to six hours in the khadi section, vegetable garden, cattle shed and farmland spread over 32- acre campus of the Gurukul, which is the lone school in entire Karnataka, which imparts and practices Gandhian ideas and values.
In this unique school, the students of class V to X learn the lessons of life through farming, dairy farming, spinning, weaving, experimenting along with studying the prescribed curriculum. Imparting education based on Gandhian values was the dream the Gandhian, Congressman and legislator Hallikeri Gudleppa.
Located on the banks of Varada river, at a distance of 28 kms from district headquarter Haveri, Hosaritti was a source of inspiration for freedom fighters from early days of the freedom struggle. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Gudleppa had established ‘Gandhi Ashrama’ in his native place way back in 1928. And during 1942 Quit India Movement, it was in Hosaritti that freedom fighter Mahadeva Mailar and two others were gunned down by the British during a protest.
Gudleppa, who strived hard to spread the Gandhian values through his Ashram in Hosaritti, was part of Dandi March, non-cooperation movement and consequently spent several years behind bars. Also known as ‘Iron Man of Karnataka’, he went on to become member of Mysore State Legislative Council. It was during his 60th birthday celebrations that he announced to donate the amount he received as gift for the establishment of a Gurukul founded on Gandhian principles. He later went around the country visiting noted institutions to know the best educational practices suitable for rural students and with the help of Ma. Gu. Handral who was trained in ‘Varada Ashrama’, he got a special project prepared, which however took few years to get the government approval.
Son fulfills father’s dream
It was after his demise that it finally took shape through the efforts of his son and doctor Dr. Deenabandhu Hallikeri and like minded persons like Gopanna Kulkarni and Viranna Chakki of Hosaritti, Basavanneppa Gourimani of Channur and Chittaranjan Kalkoti of Koradur on Gandhi’s birth anniversary in the year 1984 with the state government sanctioning required grant-in-aid.
“Gudleppa Hallikeri’s dream of Gandhi Gurukul finally materialised through the efforts of his family members and several like minded persons and philanthropists,” says M.P. Goudannanavar, the headmaster of the Gandhi Grameen Gurukul.
Viranna Chakki, who is one among the two surviving founding trustees, is still committed to the cause and frequently travels from Hubballi to Hosaratti to be part of the Gurkul ‘s activities. Post the demise of Dr. Deenabandhu, Gudleppa’s another son Rajendra Prasad Hallikeri is officiating as Chairman, while Gudleppa’s grandson Dr. Gudlesh, localites Dr. Girish Ankalkoti, Shambanna Arali are the trustees.
“Our objective was clear, we wanted the best Gandhian valued based education imparted to the rural students who are deprived of the opportunities. We offered it free of cost initially with the grants from government and generous donations from philanthropists. We cater to students from various districts across the North Karnataka region”, said Viranna Chakki.
Dwindling resources
However over a period of time, Sri Gudleppa Hallikeri Smaraka Pratishtana, which runs the Gurukul is finding it difficult to run the rural residential school due to dwindling resources. The Gurukul which had 29 teaching and non teaching staff appointed on permanent basis is now left with hardly five permanent staff. The grant for food and cloth per student has remained the same despite requests for hike.
The Gurukul has a sanctioned strength of 240 students with a maximum intake of 40 students for each class from class V to X.
“We are managing somehow by mobilising funds through our contacts. Milk produced through dairy farming and vegetables grown in the Gurukul are of great help. In the recent years we were forced to seek help from parents as we have to pay for the staff and 24 sanctioned posts remain still vacant,” Dr. Gudlesh said.
Help from alumni
According to Dr. Gudlesh, many among the 1,300 alumni of the Gurukul have extended a helping hand. In fact some among the staff are alumni of the Gurukul like warden Subhash Patil have continued to work in the Gurukul on temporary basis.
“We know what the situation is and what we have learnt from the institution. We are doing our bit and there are many among the alumni who came back with plans to help our alma mater,” he said.
Thanks to their generous contribution and other philanthropists, the Gurukul has now seen improvement in infrastructure in the last few years including having smart classrooms. But still it needs more support.
In the last few years, the Trustees have made umpteen pleas to the government authorities seeking approval for filling up posts as it was granted approval as a special school and increase in grants per student on par with the grant given to other residential schools, which actually were modelled on the Gandhi Gurukul. A recent meeting with Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa has raised their hopes for an early solution to the long pending issue.
