Faridabad, March 10
Even as the state government provides a budget of several crores to the Education Department for the development of its infrastructure each year, the department has ‘failed’ to provide basic facilities like chairs and tables for the examinees of the board examination at several centres in the district.
As a result, the examinees have to squat on the floors to write their papers. In Faridabad district, there are dozens of centres where basic furniture’s are absent. Even in normal times, students in primary schools are forced to sit on ‘Taat’ or ‘Chatai’ for their studies.
According to sources in the Haryana Education Department, a similar situation prevails in the nearby districts. There are some centres in the district where the examinees have been made to sit on the floor in verandahs due to the shortage of rooms. A girl examinee of Class XII said that most of the students who have to appear in the examinations in such a manner, (squatting) are unable to put in their best due to the inconvenience caused to them. As a result, she said, the attention of the examinees were diverted and disturbed.
It is learnt that several of the buildings and rooms are poorly lit and lack other basic facilities including drinking water and proper toilets.
Mr Kailash Sharma of the `Abhibhawak Ekta Manch’ blames the various governments over the years for not improving the infrastructure upto the required standard. Mr Kailash Sharma said despite the heavy budget on education, neither the standard of education nor the infrastructure had improved in government schools.
He said it was ridiculous for a state, which claims to be one of most developed states in the country, not to have even basic furniture’s and accommodation for the students sitting for the board examinations.
He claimed that due to the poor progress on this front, the number of students on rolls in primary schools has been on decline and people were forced to send their wards to private schools.
According to Shailender Singh, an activist of the ‘Punarjagran Sanstha’, a voluntary body, one of the main reason behind this pathetic condition was the fact that there was ‘no incentives’ for the officials to improve the conditions of these government schools as the senior officers of the state government and the district administration do not send their children to study in these schools.
He said even though majority of the officers wanted to be the chief guest at functions in these schools, they hardly care to improve the standard of education there. Even though the wives of officials work as teachers in government schools, they send their wards to the ‘top class’ public schools, he said.
However, the district authorities claim to have spent about Rs 12 crores on improving the education standards in the past three years. It is reported that government schools collect several funds at the time of admission each year.
These include union fund, Red Cross fund, health fund, child welfare fund, audio visual fund, science fund, Home Science fund, cycle stand fund and examination fee. Although the amount charged under these funds are not ‘hefty’, the school authorities fail to ensure the proper utilisation of these funds, said department sources. The authorities concerned claim that an amount of Rs 500 per month was sanctioned for each teacher to spend on miscellaneous expanses, besides other grants.
