40 buildings for 80 government schools in Ludhiana district
BURDEN OF STUDIES Shortage of classrooms, space constraints, more strength of students leads schools to conduct classes in double shifts
A total of 80 government schools are functioning in 40 buildings of the district from the past several years. Due to shortage of classrooms, space constraints and more strength of students, two government schools (primary and senior secondary, primary and middle or primary and high school) conduct classes in double shifts.
Due to space constraints, Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Indirapuri and Government Primary School, Indirapuri are running in double shifts in one building. Around 500 students of the primary school attend classes in the morning shift while 633 of senior secondary school in the afternoon from 1pm to 5.30pm. The school has 15 classrooms and every class has three sections.
Principal of GSSS-Indirapuri, Jaswinder Singh, said: “The school was upgraded last year from higher to senior secondary but due to one building, it has been running in double shifts since 1995. With the increase in enrolment of students, it is very difficult to accommodate them and that is why the school continued to run in double shifts.”
The situation is no different in other government schools. In the same building, around 170 students (Class 6 to 12) of Government Senior Secondary School, Jagraon Bridge, attend classes in the morning shift; while those of Government Primary School, Jagraon Bridge (Class 1 to 5) attend the classes from 1pm to 5.30 pm.
Most school principals said few classrooms at several government schools were declared unsafe in the last three years and no funds have been given for the construction of new classrooms, due to which ten government schools are running in double shifts.
In 2014, five classrooms of Government Primary School, Threeke, were declared unsafe. After this, the primary and senior secondary schools started running in double shifts. Around 560 students of the senior secondary school are attending classes in the morning and 480 primary school students in the afternoon.
On April 17, director public instructions (DPI secondary) Sukhdev Singh Kahlon directed all district education officers (DEOs) of the state to submit a report of government schools running in one building. The district education office (secondary), Ludhiana, sent the report on Friday.
Kalhon said, “The idea behind the report was to know the number of schools which are running in one building so that efforts can be made to provide infrastructure to those schools for their proper functioning.”