Despite poor infrastructure, facilities, Hallomajra school gets high grades
Even though the Government Model High School, Hallomajra lacks any kind of infrastructure and its students study under unsafe conditions, the school has been awarded an impressive eight points out of ten by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA) during its latest gradation of schools.
Even though the Government Model High School, Hallomajra lacks any kind of infrastructure and its students study under unsafe conditions, the school has been awarded an impressive eight points out of ten by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA) during its latest gradation of schools.
NEUPA on the basis of the information gathered under the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) for the year 2014-15 has created a report card for all the UT schools.
In the report card the schools have been awarded points on the basis of the presence of ten selected Right to Education (RTE) indicators including ramp, playground, a boundary wall, drinking water, separate boys’ and girls’ washrooms and the teacher-classroom ratio. NEUPA has directed the schools to paste their respective report cards at a prominent place in the school by August 20.
Claims vs Reality
The school officials in their report submitted to NUEPA claimed of having the adequate infrastructure including a ramp, hand rails for ramps, furniture for students, and Pucca boundary walls. Moreover the school had also claimed that it was adhering to the RTE norms by ensuring that its teachers were not involved in any non-teaching assignments.
However, HT on Saturday highlighted the sorry state in which the students were forced to study at the school. The school didn’t have a boundary wall and the area was surrounded by wild vegetation. The school, running in a pre-fabricated structure, has been fenced with barbed wires and wire mesh. When HT visited the school on Friday, a python was found in the open area next to the school building.
Contrary to school officials’ claims, the school does not have a ramp and around 2,000 students are forced to use a single staircase to enter the classrooms. Few students of the school take lessons at a nearby dispensary and are forced to sit on the floor in poorlylit classrooms. Taking note of the HT report, the director of public instructions (DPI) (schools) and his deputy had directed the school authorities to tidy up the school and its premises.
Teachers, students made labourers
Following the DPI Kamlesh Kumar’s instructions, the school teachers and students were made to clean up the premises. They were seen cleaning walls and mopping floors. The students were seen carrying buckets of water to the third-floor, which is a major violation of RTE’s norms.
‘Teachers doing non-academic work’
Arvind Rana, president of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Teachers Welfare Association, UT said, “The education department is aware of teachers doing loads of non-academic activities in the government schools. The authorities have been informed by school heads that clerks are refusing fund duties but no action has yet been taken.”