Srinagar, May 23: The advisory issued by the J&K School Education Department (SED) for the school children given the prevailing heat wave has put the schools with accommodation crunch in a tight spot.
Amid the prevailing heat wave, the SED in its advisory issued on Thursday advised the students to avoid assembling in the school premises during the afternoon hours.
The advisory has been issued after the Meteorological Department (MeT) urged people to avoid heat exposure and drink a lot of fluids amid the prevailing heat wave.
However, the advisory issued by the SED has raised concerns about the school children enrolled in schools facing an accommodation crunch wherein students of more than one class are either crammed in a single room or the students attend their classes under the open sky.
In most of these schools, the teachers have erected tin sheds to accommodate the school children due to the dearth of proper classrooms.
The SED has advised the school teachers to ensure that adequate availability of drinking water is put in place while students are allowed water breaks during school hours.
A school teacher said that several schools in towns and rural areas were facing dearth of adequate classrooms following which the students are either forced to attend their classes in tins shed erected as an alternate measure or the attend classes under the open sky.
“Attending classes in tin sheds or outside exposes children to excessive heat, making them more vulnerable to heat waves. Tin sheds tend to be particularly hot. Additionally, many schools lack proper drinking water facilities as well,” the school teacher said.
Over the years, government schools, particularly the primary and upper-primary schools have been facing an acute shortage of accommodation which deprives the students of the basic facility of a classroom in school.
Also, the department has asked the school teachers to sensitise students to cover their heads during school hours, mostly during the afternoon and also report any cases related to Heat-Related Illness (HRI).
The MeT on Thursday said that the heat wave over the plains of J&K is likely to continue for the next six days.
The Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India (GoI), has asked the J&K School Education Department (SED) to ensure saturation of all the facilities in schools by March 31, 2025.
As decided in the 3rd Chief Secretaries Conference, the J&K SED has been asked to saturate facilities like portable drinking water, electricity, girls’ and boys’ toilets, sports facilities, and sports fields by March 31, 2025.
Also, given the dearth of adequate classrooms in schools across J&K, the MoE has approved the construction of additional classrooms in 346 schools to ensure adequate classroom facilities are available for the students in schools.