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Patiala: After 50 years, Gobind Nagar school finally gets land for campus
The Government Elementary School, Gobind Nagar, which had been functioning from a local dharmshala since its inception over five decades back, has finally been alloted
The Government Elementary School, Gobind Nagar, which had been functioning from a local dharmshala since its inception over five decades back, has finally been alloted a land for campus building.
Officials of the district education department and the revenue and forest department got possession of land for the school.
Government Elementary School, Gobind Nagar, was established around 50 years back and was functioning from the dharamshala due to non-allocation of land. There are only two rooms and a verandah in the dharamshala building that currently accommodates 67 students of five classes.
A piece of tarpaulin is used in the verandah to protect students from the bone-chilling cold and direct sun light and for making space to accommodate more students.
On Thursday, district education officer (primary) Amarjeet Singh and block primary education officer (BPEO) Hans Raj, along with kanungo Nirmal Singh and patwari Ravinder Kaur visited the sight and took possession of the land. They demarcated the land with barbed wires.
According to the revenue records, around 10 years back, the then state government had allotted a four canal land to the school for construction of building. Despite this, neither did the education department take possession of the land nor did it make any other arrangements to provide campus to the school. Nothing happened in the matter for the next 10 years.
After HT reports, highlighted the matter last year, Dr Jatinder Singh Mattu, president of Dr Ambedkar Employees Federation of Punjab, took up the matter with the district administration. Meanwhile, it was found that the said four canal land was encroached upon by the forest department.
Kanungo Nirmal Singh said, “Earlier, the land was in possession of the district forest department. Now, they have handed over the land’s possession to the district education department. I was present when this happened.”
Dr Jatinder Singh Mattu, president of Dr Ambedkar Employees Federation of Punjab, said, “It is a matter of shame for the government that a school was functioning from a dharmshala for past 50 years, which is a clear violation of the Right to Education Act.”
“The quality education, in the absence of a school building, was gravely affected. It is the duty of the state government to make this matter a priority and provide funds for constructing of campus building,” Dr Mattu said.
District education officer (primary) Amarjeet Singh said, “We have got possession of the land and now will pursue this matter with the state government to get funds for construction of the campus building.”
“We will take up the case with deputy commissioner Kumar Amit in the next meeting of the district education development committee. Besides this, we will also try to get community help in the matter,” he added.
