‘Ensure no child has to sit on floor’: Bihar looks at new model to boost its school infrastructure

THE BIHAR education departmenthasdirecteddistrictmagistrates(dms) tomakesurethatall government schools have the required benches and desks – “ensurethatnochildsitsonthefloor atschool”– andotherbasicinfrastructuresuchastoilets.

Toimplementthis, thedepartment has asked the DMS to develop a model under the “feeder area concept and school cluster concept”. Inthismodel, eachsecondaryschoolwillfunctionasthe nodal guardian institution for all primary and middle schools that come under a 10-km radius of it. The secondary schools, which wouldthenbecalled“clustercentres”, willberesponsibletoensure that primary and middle schools havethenecessaryinfrastructure.

Of the 72,663 government schools in Bihar, over 15,000 do not have benches and desks, and thestudentssitonthefloor. Most of theseareprimary(class1to5) ormiddle(class6to8) schools. A total of 3 crore children study in governmentschoolsinthestate.

Thefundingfortheinfrastructurewillcomefromtheunutilised fundsthathavebeenallocatedto secondary schools. According to officials, the education departmentlearntduringrecentfieldinspectionsthatmanygovernment schools faced infrastructure constraints. However, it was also noted that 2,286 secondary schoolshadacombinedtotalofrs 1,090croreinfundsthathadbeen allocatedtoit, butwasunutilised.

In a letter sent on October 11 to the DMS of all 38 districts of Bihar, the education department'sadditionalchiefsecretary K K Pathak explained the model underwhichthenecessaryinfrastructure should be ensured by spendingtheunutilisedfunds. By denoting secondary schools as “cluster centres”, they are empowered to spend funds at their disposaltomakesurethatschools thatcomeunderfeederareahave desks, benchesandtoilets.

Thesecondaryschoolsarealso tasked with taking care of other learning, training and educating needsof theprimaryandmiddle schools that come under it. The district education officers (DEO) and block education officers (BEOS) concernedwillcoordinate withsecondaryschoolstoensure complianceofbasicrequirements of theschoolsinafeederarea.

Inhisletter, Pathaksaid:“we request you to take inspiration from the school cluster concept togetsecondaryschoolswithadequatefundstoprovidefurniture and build toilets in primary and middleschoolsinitsfeederareas. Itshouldbeensuredthatnochild sitsontheflooratschool. Ifasecondary school does not have enoughfundstobuyfurniturefor middle or primary schools, it shouldatleastbuythemcarpets, sothatchildrendonothavetosit on the ground in winters.”

Pathakaddedthatsecondary schools had used only Rs 24 crore of the funds allotted for school development, and that there was a surplus of nearly Rs 1,100 crore. He said that with thesefunds, thegovernmenthas decided to develop the school clusterconcept, whichisalsoenvisaged under New Education Policy(nep) thatstressesonthe needforthe“establishmentof a groupingstructurecalledschool complex, consisting of one secondary school together with all other schools offering lower grades in its neighbourhood…”