90 Faridabad schools grapple with shortage of classrooms

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, January 12

Around 90 government schools in the district are reportedly facing shortage of classrooms, forcing teachers to take classes in the open.

Reduced enrolment

The shortage of required infrastructure such as classrooms and teaching staff has impacted students’ enrolment in government schools. — Chatar Singh, District President, Haryana Primary Teachers’ Association

Although the project to provide more rooms and replace old and dilapidated school buildings was launched many years ago, the situation regarding the availability of classrooms hasn’t improved much so far, claim sources in the Education Department.

Owing to the lack of classrooms, students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School and the Government High School in the NIT zone have been forced to attend their classes in the open for the past one year, said a teacher on condition of anonymity. He said although a project to construct new classrooms had been announced, the facility was yet to be made operational.

The district has around 373 government schools. Of these, many schools, including the ones located at Sector 4 Prem Nagar, Gonchhi, Saran, Badkhal, Sarai Khwaja, Fathepur Chandila, Tigaon, Mewla Maharajpur, NIT- Three, Old Faridabad, Etmadpur and Sehatpur in the city have been operating in two shifts due to the acute shortage of classrooms and buildings, claim sources.

“Though the Education Department had taken up work to construct more classrooms and new buildings to replace old and defunct buildings at many places, the work has been delayed or is lying unfinished at many spots,” says Kailash Sharma, spokesperson of the parents’ body Abhibhawak Ekta Manch.

“The slow pace of work has resulted in problems for both students and staff, who have to sit in the open even during harsh and chilling cold conditions in the winter,” he says.

“The shortage of the required infrastructure like classrooms and teaching staff has impacted students’ enrolment in government schools,” said Chatar Singh, district president, Haryana Primary Teachers Association.

He said holding primary-level classes in the afternoon or in the second shift was inconvenient for many parents and was adversely impacting the attendance of their children.

He said that the government needed to provide adequate infrastructure to hold all the classes in the morning shift. DEO Asha Dahiya said she was yet to collect information about the affected schools.