Students will now get new benches and desks in all BMC schools

After recovering Rs 49.96 lakhs from scrap disposal of old, broken and unused benches lying in civic schools

Students will now have 2,813 new desks and benches in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools in this academic year. Also, an amount of Rs 49.96 lakhs has been recovered from the scrap disposal of old, broken and unused benches lying in the civic schools.

This move has been initiated after parents repeatedly complained of the wooden benches and desks lying in school corridors. Parents claimed these wooden materials were a fire hazard endangering the lives of their children. Kishore Mane, a parent said, "There are several desks lying in the basement of many BMC schools which take up a lot of space. Moreover, they are fire hazard posing a threat to all working here and the structure of the school." In response to the various complaints made by the parents, the civic education department disposed around 3,952 quintal of wooden and iron materials. Milind Sawant, the Deputy Minicipal Commissioner said, "We have recovered an amount of Rs 49,96, 280 through this scrap disposal. This amount has been deposited in the municipal treasury."

Members of the education committee had raised this issue claiming, students should have better facilities in the civic-run schools. Saida Khan, a senior member of the committee, said, "We cannot wait for an untoward incident to occur and then clear this scrap. We believe students should have open spaces in school corridors and instead of clogging the basement with unused furniture dumped since several months, it can be constructively used."

In addition, around 2,813 new desks and benches have been supplied to secondary schools. A tender process to supply 10,794 desks and benches to primary schools has begun. Mahesh Palkar, the BMC education officer said, "A budget of Rs 9.87 crore has been allocated for this purpose. We received several complaints for scrap disposal and now we have disposed the old benches and supplied new ones for our students."