Educational buildings in Kupvi being built at snail’s pace

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Shimla, March 1

Buildings of educational institutes in Kupvi appear to be jinxed. Either they are not completed in time, or they deteriorate beyond repair in the absence of use and maintenance.

“The foundation stones for three buildings were laid in the vicinity of Government Senior Secondary School, Kupvi, in the past 15 years or so. One of these buildings, the Gurukul Bhawan, has worn out completely without being used, while the other two, science block and additional classrooms, are being constructed at a snail’s pace,” said Sudershan Dhirta, member of a local NGO, Sharp.

The Gurukul Bhawan was built in 2003-04, at a budget of Rs 22 lakh, as an accommodation for school teachers. It was used for around six months and later abandoned. “The construction quality was very poor, it was impossible to use it as a residential facility. Because of the poor quality work, the second installment of Rs 11 lakh was not released,” said RS Rawat, principal of the GSSS, Kupvi.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) gave Rs 30.86 lakh in 2009-10 for the construction of five additional rooms at the school. But till date, the work has not been completed. “The PWD has completed just two rooms so far and the work on other rooms was resumed a while ago,” said Rawat.

Taking more than a decade to construct five rooms is astounding, especially when the school doesn’t have enough classrooms to accommodate students. “We have over 400 students and just 18 rooms. Of these, only 10 are used as classrooms. There’s a shortage of seating space in the school for students,” Rawat rued.

Even the much-awaited science block is far from completion. The Education Department had given an administrative approval of Rs 80 lakh for the project in 2013-14 and Rs 61 lakh was given to the PWD for the same. Yet, the work was stopped two years ago. “The PWD says there is no money left for the project, so the work has stopped,” the Principal said.

Incidentally, GSSS, Kupvi, is the only school in the entire tehsil where students can opt for science after matriculation. “Science classes were started at the school almost two decades ago but we are still without labs. You can well imagine the fate of science students without supporting labs,” Rawat said.

Executive Engineer, Chopal, confirmed that the work was stopped for want of funds. “We have written to the department concerned. Work will start as and when funds are made available,” he said.