Infrastructure pangs for GHS-Maloya

Charu Chhibber

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 8

Surrounded by residential buildings, the main entry of Government Model High School, Maloya Colony, opens to an unbearable stink rising from the litter.

The pavement built around the boundary wall of the school doubles up as a parking lot for local residents and the wall itself is used by them to hang out clothes for drying.

With student strength of 2,000, the school operates in two shifts and has 20 classrooms. The teacher-pupil ratio of the school is 1:50 whereas the prescribed ratio is 1:35 as per the RTE. The school has four posts of teachers lying vacant. The school offers Hindi and English mediums of instruction.

The school headmaster informed that a new block, comprising 37 rooms was to be constructed in the school, approval and grant for which had been sanctioned. However, the project has been stalled. “Two new government schools are coming up in Maloya, maybe because of that the construction of a new block in our school has been stalled,” said Supinder Singh, school headmaster.

When a Chandigarh Tribune team visited the school, a function was going on in the residential area opposite the school. Loud music was causing a lot of disturbance in the school. A truck load of tenting and catering material was placed next to the boundary wall, where the tent was to be set up. Staff members rued such functions were a regular feature in the colony.

The playground of the school is littered with garbage and windows of many classrooms are broken, leaving the students exposed to the vagaries of weather. The overall upkeep of the playground is poor and fencing on the boundary wall is broken at several places.

Meanwhile, Rubinderjit Singh Brar, Director, School Education, UT, was not available for comments and Chanchal Singh, Deputy Director, School Education, did not respond to repeated phone calls.