Nalkheda (Madhya Pradesh): Amid the state government spending huge sums to improve primary education standards in the state, children at a government-run primary school in a village in Agar district are being forced to sit under dilapidated roofs in a building with crumbling walls.
In the dingy rooms with leaky wooden roofs, schoolchildren eager to study can be seen sitting on cloth mats in front of a patchy chalkboard. The Government Primary School in Badagao village, situated about 15 kilometres away from Nalkheda tehsil headquarters of Agar district also does not have basic facilities like drinking water and electricity.
Even the toilets in the schools are in bad condition and filled with filth. In addition, the electricity department has installed a transformer in front of the school, posing a threat to the kids.
According to the headmaster of the school, Ramanlal Jain earlier, about 500 girl students used to study in this school, but due to the dilapidated condition of the school and non-availability of the school ground and fear of electrocution in the school, the parents have started sending their children to other schools and now only 50 to 60 children are in the school.
Ironically, officials of education and other concerned departments are well aware of the school's condition and have conducted several meetings to improve the condition, but to no avail. Jain further said, "We have also written a letter to the government administration for a new building, but no work has been done so far.
We have also written letters to the top officials and the electricity department to shift the transformer installed near the school to another place but to no avail”. The teachers of the school claim that even animals enter the school premises as the boundary wall of the school is broken.
They claim that several letters were written to the concerned officials but to no avail. One of the school teachers, on condition of anonymity, claimed that the school building is many years old and, water leakage from the roof during rains and accidents cannot be ruled out at any time.
Adding more agony, a road which was constructed in front of the school is about two feet above the school level and as a result, rainwater enters the school. In such a situation, schoolchildren and staff face trouble in their day-to-day activities.
Departmental officers hold meetings several times to discuss the renovation plan of the school. During the meeting, the in-charge of the concerned school conveys the demands of the children and villagers to the higher authorities.
At the same time, claims are made that adequate facilities would be provided to the children, but till now classes are being held in the dilapidated school. At the same time, the people's representatives are also not able to take any initiative in this direction.
A meeting of officers from the district to tehsil level was also held in this regard. Meanwhile, an attempt to contact district education officer Virendra Singh Thakur failed even after repeated attempts as he did not pick up the phone.
With inputs from Abhay Sarwaikar
