Limbdi Municipal School No. 3
Gujarat Earthquake Relief Work
Lady Wellingdon Girls School.
This school was established in Limbdi on 1st March, 1859 (before one hundred & forty years). Initially, it was a ‘girl’s only’ school. Limbdi has a pride of place in women’s education.
At present, the school teaches girls as well as boys. It has classes for standards one to seven. The school is owned and managed by Limbdi Municipal Corporation. In the Municipality, it is known as School No. 3.
The building has a beautiful tower overlooking entire market. It has finely carved wooden brackets. Entire building is a beautiful old style building.
On 26th January, 2001 the building was damaged due to earthquake. It has developed several cracks and is not safe to be occupied. On the outer surface, those cracks are not visible. However, inside the classrooms, and especially on the roof etc. it has several cracks.
Limbdi Municipality manages several schools. For most of the schools, some or the other donor has come forward and reconstructed the school. For this school, so far, no donor has come forward. Initially, the municipality hoped that a major renovation of the building may make it usable. However, on closer scrutiny, it does not appear to be safe to ask children to occupy the building and face the risk of a total collapse in any future earthquake.
Some photographs of the school building are given below :
The school is situated in the Limbdi main market. The ground floor, front portion is given to several tenants who are occupying the shops. |
Entrance to the school from the side lane. |
Different classes are run in different corners of the building and the compound. |
Another class in the open. |
Another class in the open. |
The school has sixteen classes for standards one to seven. It is run in two shifts. Eight classes are run in the morning from 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. The second shift runs form 12.45 p.m. to 5.40 p.m. Thus, eight classrooms are required for running the school. Additional rooms for teachers, staff, laboratory, library, computers etc. are necessary. Altogether, the municipality may need fourteen different rooms. This may cost around Rs. 45,00,000.
Limbdi Municipality is looking forward for donors for this school.
Rashmin Sanghvi