Facelift: Schools operating from rented spaces to miss out on up-gradation
Srinagar: While the school education department has started an exhaustive exercise for facelift of the government run educational institutions, the schools functioning from rented accommodations are given step motherly treatment with no facilities being provided to the students enrolled in these institutions.
As a policy matter, the school education department has fixed a target to equip the government school with basic facilities like drinking water, toilets and electricity connections by the end of this year, however, the rented schools are singled out in the yearly plan.
Ahead of LokSabha (LS) elections in J&K, the election commission of India has augmented an amount of Rs 1 core for each district in the state for face-lifting of the schools particularly those which have been designated as polling stations.
“The department has started a massive exercise for installation of drinking water facility, toilet blocks and electricity connection in government schools but rented schools are not included in the list,” an official said.
The students in these schools are deprived of every facility which is being provided to the students studying in those schools which have permanent campuses.
“These schools don’t get benefit of other existing schemes under which the department gets yearly finding through various components by union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
“MHRD has been pumping in crores of rupees from past many years but not a single penny has been spent on these rented schools,” the official said.
Post rationalization of schools in 2015, the number of rented schools decreased significantly but most of the schools in Srinagar city and other towns are still functional in rented accommodations. The schools are without permanent campuses as the department has failed to identify the land for construction of permanent campuses.
Earlier, the department had claimed to purchase residential houses in city areas to accommodate the rented schools in these buildings but the claims were deflated due to callous attitude of the government.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Muhammad Younis Malik meanwhile, said the department is planning a process to reduce the number of rented schools.
“We are working on it. We are hopeful that the schools working in rented accommodations will be shifted to permanent campuses,” he said.
KV Correspondent
