Reparation of school in Hungund keeps getting delayed; students and teachers suffer the consequences.
Academics, marks, and nutrition are not the main issues which haunt the students of this school. Broken walls, hanging wires, over packed classrooms, falling ceiling, etc. These are some of the everyday problems faced by the teachers and students of NRS Vidyanagar primary school in Hungund.
Only 50 percent of the school’s rooms are in competent working condition, due to which even the classes of different grades are held together. Even within the workable class rooms, parts of the ceiling and walls are falling, posing a threatto the children.
Physical education (PE) teacher NM Ronad said that it is extremely risky for children to study in the classrooms after jampacking students of several grades in one classroom. “We try to somehow manage in half of the classrooms, but the celling is still falling off bit by bit. The situation of walls is like they can be blown off by wind. In the end, the academics of children are affected. They have to study with a constant fear of some mishap.”
Due to unstable infrastructure the school administration had to take some drastic measures, in order to ensure that the academics did not come to a halt.
S.S. Hungund, head teacher of the school pointed out that even when the government provides solution to their problems it’s usually not a permanent solution. “Due to poor condition of half of the classrooms, we had to shift classes of sixth to eighth division to a nearby building. The building was part of a government PU College, but was abandoned for a long time. We have even reduced subjects to accommodate more children in the main building.”
She added that officials agreed to shift classes to the new building, but the building authority is still Pre-University College. “Now the problem is that there is no electricity or water supply in those classrooms. We cannot even distribute mid-day meal there. Therefore, the children have to return to this school building to get those services.”
She said that the kitchen where the meals are prepared is also falling apart. Therefore the workers usually do most of their work outside.
Venamma is one of the mid-day meal workers employed in the school. She said, “A part of the kitchen wall fell on few of us, a few months back. Seeing the situation of the kitchen, and anticipating that it can fall apart anytime, we moved our work outside. We go inside the kitchen only for cooking purposes. All other work is done outside.”
The headmaster and PE teacher said they have complained to the Block officer (BO) as well as the Block Education Officer (BEO), but action is yet to be taken.
Jasmine Killedar, BEO said, “I am aware of the problems which the schools of the area are facing and I have put an official report for funding many times. This year I have given a report on the repair of nine schools, which include repair of 21 rooms and building of 12 new class rooms. I have included NRS Vidyanagar School in the major repair section.”
She said the government provided Rs.7,000- Rs, 9,000 for minor repairs and up to Rs. one lakh for major repairs. Since the infrastructure situation of the school is very bad, she has put it under major repair section. But the problem is that major repair grant is accepted only for urgent repairs. She submitted the report of the school, now it’s upon the higher officials to characterize the situation of the school as urgent or not.
“I have put a request for the schools repair many times over the years. But it has not been accepted by the government yet and the zila panchayat is also yet to give a nod ,” Jasmine said.
Adding to the schools’ infrastructure issues, there are wires which are hanging from different corners of the many classrooms. To prevent any mishap, the school head teacher ordered to cut off the electricity connection in most of the classrooms, due to which students have to study without electricity.
S.S. Hungund said, “I cannot take any risk with lives of the children, since after any mishap the whole responsibility will come on my head. We tried to warn children about the wiring but they did not listen. After we saw no other option, we cut out electricity from most of the classrooms. I know the students find it difficult, but its better than an accident.”
She added that the teachers themselves have to take care of services like replacing wire or cutting down electricity. There is no financial support from the government.
NM Ronad said, thatsince the second wave of pandemic hit, no new benches, chairs or cycles have been received by the school. Due to this, almost 70 percent of the children sit on ground and students have to walk to school even if they live far off.
Jasmine agreed that there is an issue with allotment of new benches, chairs and cycles. She said that the government has not yet issued any new guideline or funding for this.
The teachers also said that there is no regular inspection of the school, to check the teacher-pupil ratio, infrastructural shortcomings, mid-day meals provided etc. They urged that proper inspection is required to ensure that the school runs well.
Classroom not used due to poor infrastructure.
According to the Karnataka economic survey 2022-23,99 per cent of the government schools in the state have basic facilities, including functioning toilets for girls and boys, drinking water, classrooms and electricity.
According to the survey report, there are 2.02 lakh classrooms in government schools, out of which 74.79 percent are in good condition, 11.71 percent of classrooms need minor repairs and only 27,358 classrooms require major repairs.
But contrary to the report, Karnataka high court has termed the situation “more painful than shocking”. They had asked the state government last year for a new survey report.
Vikram Bhatt an urban planner and architect who works in Bangalore and districts surrounding it, criticized the condition of state of schools in Karnataka. He said, “The situation of the schools is a very important issue for any place. Since the child spends most of their childhood in the school, at least the building should be in a better condition. There should be central body which inspects and takes care for school infrastructure regularly.”
He added that states should also comply with the National Building Code (NBC) 2019, which includes pointers like access to handicapped people, different design for earthquake prone areas, etc. Even in remotest parts of India if this code is followed then schools will easily last for 50 years.
He also gave an example of Rajkumari Ratnavati school of Jaisalmer, and how a well-designed school building can change the fate of whole area. “Schools are heart of any country and children are the future, therefore they must be dealt with care,” he added.
