Sopore, Sep 12: The upgraded Government Middle School at Bunpora, Dangerpora in north Kashmir’s Sopore functions from a single-storey three-room house.
Established under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme in 2004, the school functioning in the jurisdiction of Zone Dangerpora has only three rooms for six classes including a staff room and about 60 students. However, with the paucity of space, the class 7th and 8th has been shifted to another nearby structure.
“We are facing an accommodation crunch and can’t provide proper facilities to students enrolled here,” a teacher posted at the school, pleading anonymity, told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
He said the school was upgraded to the middle level in 2010 but lacks infrastructure.
Sadaf, a student, said, “The government only claims to provide the best quality education to students but you can see here what quality education the government is providing us. We cannot even study properly here. How is it possible to study in such circumstances?”
We too want to study to achieve something, we too have dreams to fulfill, however, the lack of infrastructure has severely affected our education, said another student.
The school’s students urged Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Syed Sehrish Asghar to look into the matter.
According to locals of Dangerpora, the issue was brought to the notice of the concerned authorities in the school education department, but to no avail.
If the administration is identifying and providing land for panchayats, etc, why not for a school building, they asked.
Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Dangerpora, Mohammad Akbar told KNO that the foremost issue was to develop infrastructure for the school instead of upgrading it to the middle level.
He, however, assured that the double-storeyed six-room building would be constructed to ease the sufferings of students as well as staff of the school.
The ZEO said infrastructure is the need of the hour. “Once, a school has good infrastructure, only then can quality education will be provided,” he said, adding that the school education department is committed to ensuring quality education to children.
Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Baramulla, Balbir Singh told KNO that the lack of infrastructure is “indeed a concern”. He, however, blamed the school’s teachers and locals for the issue.
“It is they only who are responsible,” the CEO said, adding, “They didn’t act well on time. Every year, we conduct UDISE workshops wherein it is emphasised on the Heads of Institutions (HOIs) and teachers to submit the planning of their schools as per the need. They were supposed to file Data Capturing Format (DCF) through which works are accordingly done, but they failed to do so.”
The CEO said the issue would have been resolved if the school authorities had submitted the DCF, as the format is being directly looked at by the Ministry of Education’s Planning Section. “We will surely visit the school along with the revenue department to identify the land and assess the situation,” he added—(KNO)
