Karnal school students made to sit in open

KARNAL: The winter is in its throes and schoolchildren are made to sit in the open in government schools. There are 489 primary schools having 53,620 students, 290 middle schools having 39,232 students, 75 high and 93 senior secondary schools with 27,335 students in the district.

Students attend a class sitting on the floor at Government Primary School in Nagla Farm village. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 6

The winter is in its throes and schoolchildren are made to sit in the open in government schools.

There are 489 primary schools having 53,620 students, 290 middle schools having 39,232 students, 75 high and 93 senior secondary schools with 27,335 students in the district.

Twenty per cent of these do not have desks. There are others where benches and tables are yet to be repaired, exposing the apathetic attitude of the authorities, said sources.

The government keeps boasting of world-class infrastructure in schools, but the reality is far from different.

In some schools, there is a problem of plenty. Desks have been kept in classrooms and the students are forced to take classes in the open.

“Be it summer, winter of the the rainy season, we have to sit on the floor as there are no desks,” said a student of a government school in Nagla Farm.

A teacher said it was the result of unfair distribution of desks due to which some schools lacked the basic infrastructure.

A few days ago, Karnal Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar visited a government school and saw desks dumped in a room. He ordered the management to send those to other schools.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also directed officials to go in for a proper distribution of desks in the schools.

It is learnt that various primary and middle schools in Karnal, Indri and Nilokheri had asked for 4,175 dual desks and 2,327 butterfly chairs.

“I have asked all block education officers (BEOs) to send details pertaining to the requirement of schools. Four BEOs have submitted the same and we will distribute the desks as per the strength of students soon,” said Saroj Gur, District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO).

She said there was a shortage of desks in some schools, but after the introduction of butterfly chairs last year, the problem had been solved to some extent.

The District Education Officer (DEO) has also asked high and senior secondary schools to submit their demands.

DEO Suresh Goria said in some schools, desks were lying unused. He said those could not be repaired or auctioned due to the carelessness of the staff.