No more damaged desks, torn mats for govt school students in Haryana

Tribune News Service

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, October 2

Students of government schools will no longer sit on torn mats and damaged desks.

To overcome the shortage of dual desks, the government has empowered the school management committees (SMCs) for the purchase of such desks. Earlier, a high-powered purchase committee used to be constituted at the state level for the task.

Blocks selected for project

Ambala-1, Tosham, Badhra, Faridabad, Bhattu Kalan, Sohana, Adampur, Salahawas, Jind, Pundri, Assandh, Gharaunda, Indri, Nilokehri, Nissing, Thanesar, Ateli, Taoru, Hassanpur, Raipur Rani, Bapauli, Rewari, Kalanaur, Sirsa, Ganaur, and Jagadhri blocks have been selected by the Directorate of School Education for the implementation of the project.

Twenty-six blocks in 22 districts have been selected for the implementation of the project. Earlier, the Karnal block was selected for the pilot project and after its success, the Directorate of School Education decided to implement the same in 26 more blocks. The SMCs will raise the demand through the Block Education Officers (BEOs) and then the department will provide the funds to the SMCs.

The directorate has also issued guidelines to be followed by the SMCs and specifications finalised for the dual desks, and only up to 2 per cent alteration is allowed in the specification.

An official said exploring the possibilities of creating a decentralised system for the purchase of good quality desks through the local manufacturers and suppliers was the prime objective behind the decision.The dual desks have been divided into three categories (pre-primary to Class III, Class IV to VIII, and IX to XII) for the convenience of the students. The committees will check the available and repairable desks, and then raise the demand for the required desks according to the strength of the students.

District Education Officer Sudhir Kalra said, “There used to be complaints related to the shortage of desks, but now the directorate has empowered the SMCs for the purchase of the desks.”

In Ambala district, the Ambala-1 block has been selected in which the dual desks will be purchased by the SMCs. As per the demands raised by the committees, there is a requirement of around 4,500 dual desks in the Ambala-1 block.

To ensure transparency and maintain vigil on the functioning of the system, monitoring committees at the school, block and cluster level will be constituted.

“Besides the selected blocks, the management committees of all government model Sanskriti senior secondary schools, government model Sanskriti primary schools, Aarohi schools, and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya will be free to purchase dual desks up to Rs 25 lakh.

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