School building unsafe, kids study from panchayat ghar

On September 23, 2023, the roof of a verandah at Government Primary School, Sidhupur, collapsed. A major tragedy was averted as neither students nor teachers were in the school at the time.

The students were then shifted to a nearby Panchayat Ghar as the school building was declared unsafe. Several meetings and discussions have taken place, but nothing concrete has been done yet.

As per information, a small grant was received earlier, but it could not be used as it was not enough. Sources from the education department said an estimate of around Rs 49 lakh had been made to renovate the school properly.

But, what is shocking is that even after 18 months, no grant has been received and the students of class I-V and anganwadi classes, all are studying in the same room of the Panchayat Ghar.

Even the parents of the students studying in the school have started asking about the situation.

It gets difficult for the teachers to manage all the children in one hall. “The anganwadi kids are too young. They cry and create disturbance in the class, making it difficult for other children to focus,” a teacher said.

The next session is also going to start soon, but, for the school authorities it is getting difficult to convince the parents of the village children to send their wards here. Thus, the school may see a dip in student strength in the coming session.

Notably, the school building had developed some cracks after floods hit the Lohian block two years ago. Later, the roof of the verandah collapsed. When the incident had happened, the school authorities had immediately contacted the officials concerned. Then block primary education officer (BPEO), along with officials of the Education Department, had also visited the school site.

BPEO Rameshwar Chander said every step is being taken by the authorities concerned to ensure that the school gets renovated as soon as possible and the students are back to their classes.

Sidhupur village sarpanch Baljit Kaur (31) had announced renovation of the school as one of her priorities when she had joined as the village head. She said, “We have been taking up this issue and within a month, the grant is expected. We will wait and act accordingly,” she said.