Schools of happiness: Govt selects 35 primary schools to upgrade infra
The Education Department, Punjab, has signed a memorandum with the Finnish Ambassador to provide international-level training to its primary school teachers in Finland with an aim to providing the best foundation to the students. Besides, the department aims to spend around Rs 40 lakh on each primary school to upgrade them, with better infrastructure and facilities, to ‘Schools of Happiness’.
As many as 35 schools from Ludhiana district have been selected to this end. The majority of these will be from the peripheral areas because of land availability. This, in turn, would attract more students to join government primary schools.
There are hundreds of other schools in blocks including, Ludhiana 1, Ludhiana 2, Mangat 1, Pakhowal and Daad, in the city’s vicinity, where there is no scope for expansion or further construction in the buildings, even if the government tried to upgrade them.
School in-charge, Government Primary Smart School (GPS), Daad, Ludhiana 2, said they had 596 students with seven classrooms but there was no space for the students to move around on the campus. Students from Daad, Chabra Colony, Kiran Vihar and Talwar Colony attend the school with each class having to accommodate up to 100 students. When the suffocation crosses all boundaries, the students are adjusted in the corridors. “Further construction on the first floor is not possible as the foundation is weak to handle a double-storeyed building,” the in-charge said.
A visit to Government Primary School, near Phullanwal, Ludhiana 1, revealed the school had a strength of 1,150 students and 10 classrooms. “The land was donated by the neighbourhood gurdwara authorities. Each class has a seating capacity of around 35-40 students but almost 100 students have to be accommodated. Unfortunately, some have to sit in corridors,” a teacher said. “There is some scope of construction but the land is in the name of the gurdwara. We cannot move a brick without the approval of the owners of the proprietors,” the school in-charge added. It becomes difficult for the teachers and students to work in these congested conditions.
Other schools like Government Primary School, Sarabha Nagar; Government Primary School, Sunet and Government Primary School, Haibowal Kalan present a similar picture — large student strength, no infrastructural facilities, no play grounds, and so on.
The teachers in these schools feel that outdoors exposure for these students is also important. If the government generously to bring smiles on the faces of students in the Schools of Happiness, once a while, students studying in the congested areas of the city should also be taken to zoos, leisure parks or for some outdoor, a teacher added. However, for this, the government needs to provide separate funds.
On the outskirts, teachers and heads of schools feel a safe vehicle facility should be initiated by the government so that students from nearby villages could come to study at the Schools of Happiness.
Selected schools
GPS Kanija, GPS Ratanheri GPS Meherban, GPS Gobindgarh, GPS Kohara, GPS Jodhan, GPS Dheri, GPS Bulara, GPS Talwandi Rai, GPS Rajgarh, GPS Lalton Kalan, GPS Chakkar, GPS Rampur, GPS Kheri, GPS Ghalib Kalan, GPS Akhara, GPS Sarabha, GPS Dhandran, GPS Maangarh, GPS Jhammat, GPS Koomkalan, GPS Burj Hari Singh, GPS Jahangirpur, GPS Abuwal, GPS Galwadi, GPS Bhattian, GPS Lalheri, GPS Takhran, GPS Sehjo Majra, GPS Bhaini Sahib, GPS Chuharpur, GPS Kasabad, GPS Bhattian Bet and GPS Mundian Khurd.
The student strength in these schools is between 150-450 students.
