Rajiv Mahajan
Nurpur, December 1
Tiny tots of Government Primary School, Thanger, in Kamnala gram panchayat are studying under a constant threat of building collapse.
The classrooms were declared unsafe by the Public Works Department (PWD) five months ago but neither safe classrooms were arranged nor were enrolled pupils shifted to any nearby government school.
Intriguingly, this government school has been recording decline in the enrolment of students with each passing year but the successive state
governments neither re-constructed the school building nor merge this school with any other primary school.
In the current academic session, only six tiny tots took admission due to its unsafe premises. A single teacher is taking classes in the open in the winter season. During summers, tiny tots are forced to sit inside a dilapidated school building which is on the verge of collapse.
Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Thanger village, said, “I had submitted a public complaint to the Chief Minister’s helpline but I received a reply that my complaint has been closed.” He lamented that the Chief Minister’s helpline had failed to solve this problem.
Rekh Devi, ward member of the village, said the Nurpur SDM had inspected this building, but to no avail. She asked who would be responsible in case of any mishap. Hem Raj, Kamal Kishor, Swaran Singh and Subash Singh, fathers of the schoolchildren, appealed to the state Elementary Education Department to at least demolish the unsafe declared classrooms to avoid any mishap.
Yogesh Sharma, Block Elementary Education Officer, Nurpur, said he had written to the Deputy Director, Dharamsala, for the demolition of two classrooms of the school. He informed the PWD had declared 11 government primary and middle school buildings unsafe in the Nurpur elementary education block.
The session sees single teacher taking classes
- The government school has been recording a decline in the enrolment of students with each passing year but the successive state governments neither re-constructed the schoolbuilding, nor merge this school with any other primary school
- A single teacher is taking classes in the open in the winter season