Ground report: School building in shambles, students forced to study from dharamshala

Shivani Bhakoo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 17

A total of 169 students of Government Primary School, Sati Sudan, near Guru Arjan Dev Nagar at Samrala Chowk are forced to study from a dharamshala due to the lack of a proper school building.

The school authorities are not allowed to display a board outside the dharamshala, which itself is 50 year old, nor can they make a separate entrance. Whenever there is a function at the dharamshala, the students had to face inconvenience.

The classes are conducted on the ground floor and the functions are held on the first floor, causing a lot of disturbance to the students. During a visit to the school, all students were seen sitting in one hall, where classes from nursery to Class V were being taken by three teachers.

One of the teachers said it was very difficult to focus under these conditions, especially when the events were held on the first floor and there was a common entrance. “The students get disturbed, but we cannot do anything about it. We cannot even lock the school because of the common gate,” said the teacher. Two days back, a team of PSPCL threatened to cut the power connection as there was an outstanding amount of Rs 40,000 as the bill was not paid due to the paucity of funds.

Though there are 41 students in the primary classes, two swings are in a corner and there is no space for them to play even as the government insists on play-based studies for small children. Mid-day meals are cooked in a small room but at the time of distribution of food, there is total chaos because the students bump into each other due to limited space.

After an event is held at the dharamshala, the garbage is thrown out on the street and school teachers had to pool money to get the mess cleared up. Most students belong to the families of migrants, who come from Guru Arjan Dev Nagar, EWS Colony, Indira Colony, etc. There is a government hostel 2 km away and a school building is lying unused as it is in a shambles.

The authorities have time and again requested the high-ups to shift the school in its building so that the students can study in a better environment, but to no avail.