Parents want upgrade of Nabha Jail School

Harinder Singh Khaira

Patiala, June 24

Though the administration is yet to take the final call in the issue of depressing conditions of elementary school inside the premises of Maximum Security Jail Nabha, parents of the students have come forward with another demand, upgrade of the school.

The parents have also urged the administration to get their children admitted in a private school located in the Silver City residential complex under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, failing to provide them government school in their locality.

In the meeting held on June 20, the administrative officials have indicated that the students will be shifted to the elementary school which is located inside the premises of DIET Nabha.

The parents have completely refused to send their wards to the DIET School citing security reasons. The parents claimed that the school is located far from their residential area and they could not afford the risk of crossing one of the busiest roads of the city to send their wards to the school.

“We have already urged the government for the construction of new building for the school but our demand has not been addressed. Now, along with the demand of new building, we also want the upgrade of the school up to Class VIII,” Palwinder Singh, a parent, said.

He said, “The administrative officials cannot force us to send our wards to any other school in the city. It is also against the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE). As per the RTE, the government is bound to provide a school within one kilometer of the residence of a child.”

Meanwhile, Nabha Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Jashanpreet Kaur Gill said, “It was just a preliminary meeting with parents and I went there only to see the condition of the school. We have not yet taken the decision for the transfer of children to another school.”

The SDM said they were trying to locate appropriate place for the construction of new building for the school and it would take some time due to which they had suggested the shifting of students to another school.

The issue

The school is running since 1965 inside the premises of the jail and is utterly exposed to the atmosphere of the jail and criminals. As the school is lacking separate partition or boundary wall inside the premises, school students are ‘bound’ to observe the activities of criminals; and the police dealing with the inmates. Just a few meters away from the children performing various activities, the handcuffed criminals are openly carried by the security personnel. The school came to limelight in December last year, when an IIT-Delhi student visited the jail quarters to see his relatives, and after knowing the miserable conditions of the school; he approached the Punjab State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights. He lodged a plea with the commission for the improvement of depressing surroundings and pitiable infrastructure. Taking the serious note of the complaint, the commission summoned the education department officials and asked them to initiate necessary developments to make the environment healthy for the study.