Situated at a distance of one kilometerfrom the highway, government middle school S K colony Qamarwari is functioningfrom the ground floor of a building which houses a trouser factory in its upperstorey.
The school located on the backside of thepolice housing colony has only four rooms for eight classes in the groundfloor. To accommodate students, the teachers have partitioned a room into foursections.
“One room serves as school office as wellas staffroom for the faculty. At times our classes are taken in the open,” saida 3rd primary student.
The school speaks volumes about the muchneglected government education system.
The building is the property of localmosque but the factory according to teachers is more profitable than the schoolfor the local committee.
“The factory owner pays the rent on time,but our department delays the payment of rent to the committee,” an officialsaid.
Government middle school S K Colony is notthe only school sans basic facilities, but there are other such schools in citythat are operating from dilapidated rooms where students are cramped togetherby the concerned teachers.
Besides lack of drinking water, toilet andelectricity facilities, there’re no benches in the classrooms for the studentswho are assembled in different groups in one room.
Besides other facilities, most of theeducational institutions lack ground facilities depriving the students ofextracurricular activities. The buildings hired by the department toaccommodate schools have either broken windows or the roof top is partlyshattered and the walls are worn out. These rented buildings have nothing inthem to be called as a school. However, the government seems to be in deepslumber to chalk our measures for providing better accommodation for studentswhich will have all basic facilities.
“What sort of reform do you except from aschool where a student is not provided proper classroom facility. The studentsin these rented buildings are chocked in such a way that teachers can’t set upproper seating arrangements for these students,” an official said.
Most of the times it becomes a headache forthe teachers to assemble students of different classes and teach themsimultaneously in one congested room which also makes learning difficult forthem.
“Obviously there is chaos in rooms when twoteachers give lecture to students of two different classes in a single room,”said a teacher who wished not to be named.
As per the official figure, there arearound 1400 schools functioning in rented shabby rooms across Jammu andKashmir. The student population in these schools is over 32000.
The students in these schools are deprivedof all basic facilities like drinking water, toilet and library for thestudents. There are no facilities of CAL centres of ICT laboratories in schoolsfunctioning from rented rooms. As per the government policy, there is noprovision with the department to equip schools with these facilities as thebuildings are not treated as government property.
“These schools are hired on rent and wecannot utilise funds for providing facilities to the students in thesebuildings. The students enrolled in such schools are deprived of all suchfacilities which are provided to students in other schools having permanentcampus,” an official said.
A government middle school in the heart ofdowntown Srinagar is functioning out of a single shabby room. Situated at AliKadal, the Rehbab Sahib (B) Government Middle School (GMS) was set up in 2005in a rented room and a corridor as an education guarantee scheme (EGS) centreup to primary level under erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
Five years since, no infrastructure for theschool has come up. The school falls in the jurisdiction of Zaldagar educationzone; it was even upgraded to the level of middle school but without anyinfrastructure. There is no proper seating arrangement for students who arecrammed in a small room and a corridor to take their classes.
In Zaldagar zone alone out of around 31government-run educational institutions, only four schools have permanentcampus.
“Only three middle schools and a highschool have government buildings. Others are functioning out of rented shabbyand small rooms,” an official said.
The data from Unified District Informationon School Education (UDISE) reveals that there are 519 government schools in Srinagar district out of which 308are run from shabby rented spaces without basic facilities required for aneducational institution. The student population in rented schools is over 3587.
“We don’t get maintenance grants fromMinistry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for the schools functioning fromrented accommodations. We can’t also utilise money from state budget forinfrastructural up gradation in rented school spaces,” an official said.
Srinagar is not the only district where thegovernment-run schools are operating in pathetic condition. The condition ofhundreds of schools in other districts of valley reveals the abysmal state ofeducation system.
Budgam district has 156 rented schools withan enrollment of 2986 students while as Raouri district has 132 school withenrollment of 2456 students and Reasi district has 200 schools with 4968student population. The school education department is facing accommodationcrises to make these schools fully equipped and provide adequate infrastructurefor the students.
Although Government of India (GoI) has beenpumping in huge amount for civil works under erstwhile SSA scheme, most ofthese schools have been neglected by the successive regimes over the years.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK),Muhammad Younis Malik said only primary or middle schools established undererstwhile SSA scheme are functioning from rented buildings.
“Wherever schools are functioning in rentedbuildings, we have asked the building owners to provide basic facility ofdrinking water and toilet to the students,” he said. He said almost all highand higher secondary schools are functioning from government buildings.