When the work started, the school was in poor repair. Roofs of old corrugated sheet and tile had sagged and split, with moss and dry grass growing along their edges. One classroom had lost most of its roof and stood open to the sky, with only a rusted frame overhead. Blue plastic tarpaulin was spread over another to keep out the rain.

Walls were stained with damp and mould and the plaster was peeling. The red verandah pillars had crumbling tops, and doors were missing panels or hanging loose. The boundary wall had broken down in places, leaving bare brick, and the iron gate stood bent and open to the road.

The compound was bare earth with litter scattered across it. A cracked concrete platform circled an old tree, and a flagpole on a stepped base was the only fixture in the yard. There was no shade to sit in and nothing to play on.

The work began by taking apart what could not be saved. Damaged plaster was chipped back to the brick, broken stretches of the boundary wall were opened up, and rubble was cleared from the yard.

A new two-storey block began to rise at the back of the compound, built in concrete and brick and wrapped in bamboo scaffolding while masons plastered it. Its upper floor has open lattice-brick openings that let in light and air. The heaps of gravel and stone in the yard show how much material came in.

The old classrooms were repaired rather than replaced. Their walls were re-plastered, and each roof was replaced with new red metal sheeting on a steel frame. Another new block went up in brick and stone, with gaps left in its walls for ventilation. A row of colour swatches on a verandah wall shows the palette being chosen before painting began.

Inside, painters went to work on the walls. The lower band of each wall was painted black to serve as a continuous blackboard, so a whole class can write at once. On it, a painter has drawn musical instruments in white, including drums and a flute. Higher up are Marathi sayings painted in blue and a picture of an older man pointing out a lake and village to a boy. New barred windows let daylight into rooms that now sit under new steel roofs. The classroom floors were also tiled as part of the same work.

Alongside the buildings, the school’s toilet facilities were improved. New toilet rooms were finished in the same marigold yellow, each with its own door and a roof overhead. Beside them is a long hand-washing trough with four taps set against a tiled wall, so several children can wash their hands at once.

The opening was marked with a small ceremony. Marigold flowers were set along the trough, and girls in traditional dress, one holding a tray of offerings, cut a red ribbon across a toilet door.

The school now looks very different. Buildings are painted in marigold yellow with red borders, blue doors and shutters, and new sloping roofs. Windows have deep sunshades against sun and rain, and lattice openings along the walls keep rooms airy.

A two-storey classroom block faces a levelled courtyard marked with rows of white lines. A ramp with a blue railing leads up to one classroom verandah. A kitchen room is labelled in Marathi, a water tank sits on a raised wall, and a rebuilt, painted boundary wall closes the compound.