27 govt school buildings declared condemned in Hisar

As many as 480 students of Government Senior Secondary School at Mangali village are attending classes in an open verandah, sitting on the floor, as only four classrooms are functional. Twenty-two rooms of the school have been declared unsafe.

The staff said they had been holding the classes in a hall and verandah. Most parts of the building have been sealed. The principal, Savita Devi, said it had been for the safety of students. They were talking to the panchayat for providing space for holding classes at another place, she said.

Similar is the condition of several other schools in the district. At Dobhi village, all 24 classrooms of SNT Government Senior Secondary School — with a strength of 320 students — have been declared unsafe by the Public Works Department (Buildings and Roads). The classes are being held in laboratories, library, halls, and staff rooms. The building, including two toilets, two staircases, and a water tank, was declared "condemned" earlier this year. Sources said the teachers and students were making do with makeshift arrangements. As there is a threat of snakes in the open in the monsoon season, the classes were also being held in unsafe rooms which looked "manageable", said school sources.

These are not isolated cases. As per official records, 27 government schools in the district have had major portions or entire buildings condemned, while two additional schools are awaiting "condemnation" approval. In total, 140 classrooms, two halls, six toilets, two staircases, four kitchens, seven verandahs, seven store rooms, and eight other critical structures have been declared unsafe. The sources, however, said classes were still being held in all these schools, exposing thousands of students to risk.

The entire building of Government Girls Senior Seconday School at Dhansu is unsafe. At Government Senior Seconday School, Rajli, 16 rooms, a hall, and the midday meal kitchen are no longer usable. At Siswala, eight rooms, two stores, and a verandah have been sealed, while at Arya Nagar, Government Girls Senior Secondary School has acute space crunch, with 10 rooms and a hall declared "condemned" by the authorities.

Though the Additional Deputy Commissioner and DEO were not available for comments, the sources said the ADC office had declared the buildings condemned after due process.

Principal Savita Devi, meanwhile, said the government had sanctioned Rs 3.75 crore for a new building, and the work would start once the existing structure was dismantled.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has launched an attack on the state government over the dilapidated condition of government schools. At a press conference today, AAP district president Rajendra Sorki and state secretary of the education wing, Umesh Sharma, claimed that the government was endangering the lives of children by continuing classes in buildings that had been officially declared “condemned”.