In view of the Bihar government’s recent decision to repaint and rename all 551 model schools from Classes 9-12 in all blocks of the State as “Saraswati Vidya Niketan”, the schools have started painting the exterior walls with the instructed paint of “sunrise” colour — a shade that closely resembles the saffron associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The exterior walls of B.P. High School in Begusarai, where Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, along with State Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari, had visited on July 19, 2026, and announced the renaming and repainting of all the model schools, were painted with the “sunrise” colour. The instructed name was also printed on polymer plastic sheets, by spending lakhs of rupees in “just three-days haste”. However, school principal Kamini Kumari wondered why the schools, that were painted afresh only few days ago, had to be repainted by a new government’s directive.
“We’re the lowest-rung employees of the department, teaching in government schools and we’ve to follow whatever directive or guideline comes from above. I had done fresh painting of my school building a few days ago, spending lakhs of rupees, but again we’ve been asked to repaint it with the sunrise color and the first coat of the paint has already been done,” the school principal, who also teaches chemistry, told The Hindu on August 4, 2026.
Kamini Kumari, principal of B.P. Inter School, Begusarai, in Bihar. Photo: Special Arrangement
The main gate of the century-old school, established in the year 1888, displays a board renaming it as “Saraswati Vidya Niketan” (Model School), B.P. Inter School, Begusarai. “From July 16-18, we engaged nearly 50 workers for a fresh coat of the suggested colour and we did our work ahead of the Chief Minister’s visit,” added the principal of the school, which is spread across about five-acres of land in middle of the Begusarai town.
There are 44 teachers in the school with 2,900 students from Class 9-12. “It’s a big school. The Chief Minister, who visited the school along with other top officials, was visibly impressed with the presentation of the students,” said the school principal. Her husband Bishwajeet Kumar, who is a sports teacher, is busy making a new cricket pitch on school campus. “We’ll make it happen this too very soon. The intermittent rain these days is the only constraint, otherwise, we’re getting all support from the district administration,” he said.
The District Education Officer (DEO) Manoj Kumar said, “In the Begusarai district, there are 18 blocks but we’ve 4 extra model schools as the district is big. Work is going on in every model school, as per the guidelines of the department.”
“We have already spent nearly ₹12 lakh on the school’s repaint, as per the guideline. The school had another colour only a few days ago,” said Mr. Kumar. The school will have a fresh coat of “sunrise colour”, though it looks more saffron than the sunrise and white from inside. “We still fail to understand why a fresh coat of colour of the exterior of the school building was suggested, spending lakhs of rupees. It would have been better if the amount was spent on increasing the number of the computer sets in the school from 10 to 50, giving access to each student of a class to learn something,” said another teacher, on condition of anonymity.
The Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (BSIEDC), which primarily looks after renovation and construction work of government schools in Bihar, had issued a letter on July 7, 2026, to all district units of BSIEDC with subject related to paintings of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (Model) Schools and suggested the colour code as: “External Wall — Sunrise (0526 — Asian Paint), Border: Chocolate Brown Enamel (Asian Paint), Interior — Xtra White (Asian Paint) and Door / Windows: Golden Brown Enamel (Asian Paint).” The letter instructed that the directive should be followed as “soon as possible”.
Nearly 130 km northwest of Begusarai, at Senduari Model School in Vaishali district, the repaint of the exterior walls was completed. The school was repainted just one day ago on July 18, a day before the CM and others reached Begusarai. “We engaged 14-15 workers to paint round-the-clock on that day to complete the work,” said school principal Krishna Kant Roy. “Only two-weeks ago, I had the school painted in sky blue colour but we had to repaint it following the government’s guidelines,” rued Mr. Roy.
The exterior walls of Senduari Model School in Vaishali district’s Hajipur have been repainted according to the government’s directive. Photo: Special Arrangement
However, he added, “We’ve to follow the guidelines, not to question the directive.” Asked how much money has been spent yet on the repainting, which looks prominently like saffron, Mr. Roy said, “So far, we’ve spent nearly a lakh rupee on the new paint.” When asked whether the government will reimburse the money, he said, “We’ve been asked to get the money reimbursed from the development fund of the school.” The government schools in Bihar charges around ₹25-30 as “development fees” from every student at the time of their admission. The school, established in 1968, has a total of 965 students and 32 teachers, including the principal.
“Earlier, schools in Bihar were painted either in pink, sky-blue or in white that were decent and identified from afar, but this new colour sunrise, which prominently looks saffron, has altogether got a distinct connotation,” said retired government school teacher Ramashray Prasad Singh.
Bihar has a total of 534 blocks across 38 districts, but some bigger districts such as Patna, Gaya, Begusarai, and Muzaffarpur have more than one model school, taking the number of such schools to 551.
Published – August 06, 2026 01:10 pm IST
