Their wait is finally over. Teachers and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) at the century-old Government Ganapath Higher Secondary School for Boys in Kozhikode city are relieved after General Education Minister V. Sivankutty announced on Wednesday morning that the government has approved their proposal to convert the school into a co-educational institution.
It has been around six years since teachers and the PTA began their attempts to get government permission to admit girls into the school. PTA functionaries had claimed that the future of 33 girl students was at stake owing to the contradictory stands taken by successive Deputy Directors of Education (DDE) in Kozhikode.
The PTA general council, in 2016, had proposed to allow admissions to girl students. Based on the verbal permission from the then DDE, 33 girl students were given admission from the next year. However, owing to technical reasons, official permission was kept pending.
The incumbent DDE also took a stand against admitting girls. Seven girl students, who got admission this academic year, had to be given transfer certificates. There are Class 10 as well as Class 9 students among the 33 students now. The Director General of Education later sought an explanation from the District Educational Officer as well as the school headmaster why girl students were admitted without government approval. Mr. Sivankutty, in the meanwhile, clarified that the PTA can take a call on converting girls-only and boys-only schools as co-ed institutions.
PTA functionaries had said that another government school in Madappally near Vadakara had sought similar approval from the government in the same period and they were given permission recently.
The school, set up by Ganapath Rao in 1886, is one of the oldest in the city. It boasts of illustrious alumni such as former Union Minister V.K. Krishna Menon, freedom fighter-editor K.P. Kesava Menon and writer S.K. Pottekkatt.
