40 students, 14 teachers crammed in shabby four rooms in a middle school
Srinagar: Bellying the tall claims of the education department to fill in the infrastructural gaps in educational institutions, the Government Middle School (GMS) S K Colony continues to function from three shabby rooms of a rented building at Qamarwari.
The school is located at a distance of one kilometer from the main highway but has not attracted the attention of the education department.
A single visit to the schools reveals the neglected government education system in the Valley. This is not the lone school which has been left craving for government attention but there are hundreds of government schools in city which are operating from shabby rooms and that too from rented accommodations.
As per the official figures there are 519 government schools in Srinagar district out of which 308 schools are functioning from shabby congested rooms hired by the department on rent.
Notably, the building housing the School at Qamarwari is the property of local mosque and has been given to schools by local Auqaf committee.
“The matter was put into the notice of administration but no action was taken till date. The school was not provided any permanent building for the students,” the teachers at the school said.
The school has only four rooms for eight classes in ground floor. The teachers have created partition of a room into four sections to accommodate the students.
“One room serves as school office as well as staffroom for the teaching faculty. And at times we take classes in open because it becomes very difficult to accommodate students of more than one class in a single congested room,” the teachers said.
There are around 40 students in the schools and the number of teachers is 14. The school has disproportionate teacher student ratio as the recommenced PTR as per norms is 1:30 for a middle school.
“The reason for flawed PTR is because every teacher wants to get conveniently posted. Department gets pressures from various power echelons regarding posting of their near ones which disturbs the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) in schools,” an official said.
This school has no facilities and the children are chocked here on the floor as the department has not provided any benches or seating arrangements to the students.
While the school is functioning from the ground floor, a trouser factory runs from four rooms at the first floor of the building. The classrooms in the ground floor start shaking as machines start operating during the daytime when the school is operational.
“As the machines are started upstairs the walls of classrooms shake creating a very chaotic situation,” the teacher said.
While the department has turned a blind eye towards the grave issue, the students continue to get deprived of the basic amenities in this institution.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Muhammad Younis Malik said the matter will be looked into.
“I will seek a report from Chief Education Officer (CEO) Srinagar and necessary arrangements will be made accordingly,” he said.
