World’s largest exam body functions from a dilapidated building
ALLAHABAD: Despite being over nine decades old and having produced several high profile politicians, bureaucrats, judges, and other eminent personalities the Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad or UP Board is functioning from a century-old British period building presently in poor condition.
Dilapidated roof, out of order toilets, poor drinking water facility, rusty gates, old and rickety furniture are some of the things that leave a lot to be desired.
Having an annual budget of over Rs 300 crore and around 1600 employees performing Board’s routine functioning from the headquarters and its five regional offices, the apathy over the years has resulted in poor condition of its main office.
According to Board officials working conditions were extremely strenuous due to excessive work load and lack of requisite facilities. “Out of order toilets, non-functional water cooler, rickety furniture, no air cooling system for staff, etc makes the working conditions miserable. The IT section of the Board has just one computer with a printer attached to it, which remains out of order for most part of the year. Several complaints by Board’s staff in the past few years have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
Says advocate and RTI activist Pradeep Verma, “For Kumbh 2019, Rs 2500 crore funds has been allocated and several buildings of historical importance and even government offices are maintained by either Archeological Survey of India (ASI) or different government agencies. UP Board is the largest examining body in world and it should also be well projected in Kumbh 2019.”
Similarly, eminent historian and head, department of modern and medieval history, Allahabad University Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari said, the Board had acquired a distinction on global scene by having the largest number of examinees annually besides after three years, it would complete a century of existence. “The board headquarters will turn into a heritage building after completing 100 years of existence. The state government should ensure a facelift of the Board’s headquarters both in view of the same set to celebrate centenary in 2021 besides the forthcoming Kumbh 2019 during which tourists from all over the globe are expected to descend in Allahabad,” he added.
“We are thinking for a face-lift for UP Board headquarter premises for which a proposal will soon be forwarded to state government. Hopefully the Board headquarter will have a new look soon,” said Secretary of UP Board Neena Srivastava.
It may be mentioned that the Board was established in 1921 at Allahabad by an act of United Provinces Legislative Council and conducted its first examination in 1923. The Board presently has around 26000 institutions affiliated to it and every year has over 50 lakh examines taking its High School and Intermediate examinations.