NRI alumni restore iconic Ranavav alma mater

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN/Ranavav/ As high school kids,the lessons they learnt here left deep impressions on their soul.No wonder when their alma mater needed them,they rushed to their native village from different corners of the world.Two families played a pivotal role in restoring the village high school,which got damaged in the earthquake in 2001.By doing this,families of Muljabhia Madhvani,sugar kings of Uganda and Aroon Samani,75,have restored 100 years of glory.The Sarkari High School building was restored at the cost of Rs 2.5 crore,pooled in by the two families,and handed over the state government last year.Ranavav,a coastal town,located about 180 km from Rajkot has a population of about 22,000.The government high school,formerly known as Ranawad Gujarati School was founded in April 1903 by the then ruler of Porbandar Bhavsinh Madhavsinh.In 1903,the school had only four classrooms,one office and one staff room and a central hall.The total cost to build the school stood at Rs 11,927.It was a beautiful heritage structure.We were really shocked when we learnt that it had been damaged in the earthquake.It was our duty to restore it, Samani,an alumni of the school now based in Nairobi,Kenya told TOI over telephone.Samani studied here between 1942 and 1947 before flying to Kenya where he worked as a consultant engineer.We wanted to preserve it in its original glory.We decided to restore and extend the building without altering the structure, says Samani.When he hired a contractor to do the job,he advised that it would be cheaper constructing a new building instead of restoring the old one.But we wanted the same school back, said Samani.After the restoration,the school has been named after Muljibhai Madhvani government school.It was a remarkable efforts made by past students to restore it.They frequently travelled to this village just to supervise restoration work.They are an inspiration for the present students,who can carry forward the legacy, said school principal B M Chudasama.