Poor drainage system bane of Daria village high school

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 4

The Government High School in Daria village was established in 1979 and was built at a level lower than rest of the village. This causes sewer in the school ground to overflow and raise a stink. Moreover, it has also become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and risk of diseases like malaria and chikungunya is high.

The school already does not have a proper playground. It is small and uneven at places. To add to the woes, the water used to wash utensils and other purposes of the mid-day meal is thrown in the ground. The ground, thus, seems more like a drain in most of the parts.

Teachers in the school inform that the authorities were well-versed with the problem, but do not work on a permanent solution. One of the teachers, preferring anonymity, informs, “They raise the level of the sewerage time and again which solves the problem just for a few days. How high will they make it, it is wastage of money.”

Another problem that students and even teachers face is because of the guard of the school. According to the village sarpanch, Gurpreet Singh, guard Ramkumar is a notorious alcoholic who creates ruckus at night and compromises the security of the school. Many a times, he does not open the school gate on time in the morning and students and teachers have to wait outside the premises.

The school as well the panchayat have been requesting the authorities for a solution in written, but to no avail. Since April last year, the panchayat and the school authorities have written letters to the Education Department informing them about the problems being faced by them. A complaint has been registered against the guard, too, at the local police station and the police have visited the school twice to check him.

Moreover, basic problems like cleanliness of toilets, broken window panes and crumbling walls exist in the building. The school has 17 rooms and has a requirement of 18 more to cope with the increasing number of students in the school.