No textbooks, missing benches & unsafe rooms
FARIDKOT: Incomplete set of textbooks, no benches to sit and unsafe classrooms mark the state of school education in the district. This, even as chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, no less, expressed his disappointment at the 57% result in Class-10 at the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). After his much-publicised comment, government officials had vowed to improve the education standards and take action, if warranted against teachers. Three months later, it is clear that before any action is taken against anyone, the government needs to ensure the basics for education are made available.
Here in the region at least, the PSEB is yet to release books of 17 subjects to students of Classes 1-8. Anecdotal evidence suggests the same is true, across the state as well. “Delay in distributing text books is causing academic loss,” a senior official said.
10 BENCHES FOR 200 STUDENTS
An HT team visited a primary school in Jeevan Nagar to find that the school had only 10 benches for 200 students. As a result, students were making do with gunny bads spread on the floor to sit and listen to lectures. This leads to complaints of burns and rashes from students.
“We feel helpless at times to help students from avoiding the burning heat,” principal Nirmal Jeet Kaur said.
UNSAFE CLASSROOMS
What is worse than no facilities is the complete turning of blind eye of the authorities to the use of classrooms that the state engineering department has declared unsafe.
District education officer Dharamveer Singh said, “I have instructed the authorities of the schools not to use classrooms which require renovation. At the Jeevan Nagar primary school, three classrooms are in use for the students. We plan to merge the school into a government secondary school.”
Headmistress of a government secondary school told HT that many schools in the district were struggling to pay electricity bills. “Our power connection was disconnected as we failed to pay bills. The school took a loan and teachers contributed to ensure power is restored,” she claimed.