Places · School
Government Upper Primary School, Aranattukara (GUPS)
Aranattukara's government school near the Eastern Bazaar, which began as a free Malayalam lower primary school for the children of poor families.
Photo to come
Most of Aranattukara’s early schools were started by the parish or by families such as the Tharakans. This one was started by the state. The Education Department opened it as a mixed school, for boys and girls together, so that the children of poor families in the area could study free of charge.
From Malayalam school to UP school
The book records it as the Government Malayalam Lower Primary School, at the northern end of Valiyangadi, and notes that it was still running when the book was written. Older residents simply called it the Malayalam School. Today the school near the Eastern Bazaar is the Government Upper Primary School, Aranattukara (GUPS).
We believe these are the same school, raised at some point from lower primary to upper primary. Neither the date of its founding nor the year of the upgrade is recorded in our sources. If you know them, please tell us.
A landmark in the bazaar
The school was well enough known to serve as a landmark. Describing the political life of the 1950s and 60s, the book places one party’s local office “near the Malayalam School” in the bazaar.
You can read about Aranattukara’s other schools in Schools That Shaped Aranattukara.
Help us complete this page
Were you a pupil or a teacher here? We would like to know when the school began and was upgraded, who its first teachers were, and what school life was like, and we would love to see old class photographs. Please tell us.
