No power, 4,000 Haryana schools to get solar panels

CHANDIGARH: In the absence of proper power supply at government educational institutions in the state, the Haryana school education department has decided to install solar power panels in nearly 4,000 schools so that they can run facilities like computer laboratories.

Besides these labs, the focus, to begin with, will be on running the Edusat (education through satellite) programme with solar power.

The department is also planning to have reverse osmosis (RO) systems at these schools.

Launched by the Union human resources development (HRD) ministry in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2004, Edusat aimed at enabling satellite communication network for quality education. However, a large number of Edusat terminals developed glitches or their parts were stolen from many schools.

Additional chief secretary, school education, PK Das said they have decided to outsource maintenance of Edusat equipment and tenders for five districts have been floated.

“The agency allotted the task of maintenance will be required to carry out periodic inspections of Edusat equipment and also attend complaints in a timebound manner,” he said.

The state has nearly 12,000 government schools which have more than 22 lakh students.

“We have requisitioned Rs 20 crore for solar panels,” PK Das further said.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report tabled in the Haryana assembly in 2013 had highlighted the poor functioning of the Edusat programme.