3,000 students remain absent from Bandra municipal school

The Khernagar school complex houses a total of 10 primary and secondary schools of English, Marathi, Kannada languages. The two buildings comprise 120 classrooms that accommodate 4928 students.

Mumbai: Around 3000 primary and secondary students have stopped attending classes at the Khernagar BMC school due to space crunch after one of the two buildings was demolished after it was declared dangerous.

The rest of the floors are under construction in this building as a result classes are not held. Students have to sit in densely-packed classrooms. This is the main reason that around 3,000 students have stopped attending school. (HT PHOTO)

The Khernagar school complex houses a total of 10 primary and secondary schools of English, Marathi, Kannada languages. The two buildings comprise 120 classrooms that accommodate 4928 students.

With one building in the complex evacuated for repairs after it was declared unsafe, all 4928 students had to be stuffed into one building with just 22 classrooms on the third and fourth floors. To add to the struggle, out of these 22 classrooms, six have been given to a private educational institution to run a junior college, said Shivnath Darade, executive member of Shikshak Parishad - a teachers’ union.

The rest of the floors are under construction in this building as a result classes are not held. Students have to sit in densely-packed classrooms. Darade added that this is the main reason that around 3000 students have stopped attending school.

One of the principals informed the education department in writing that the classes for the primary schools were being conducted on the fourth floor and only 1816 students out of 4928 students, registered with the schools, are in attendance at present. There are two English schools in the complex where total of 2416 students are registered on the attendance book. Out of which 1751 students remain absent, according to the data submitted by the principal along with the letter.

Darade was critical of the municipal education department who were expected to complete the repair work during the vacation. Now the building is being repaired at the cost of the students’ education.

BMC education officer Raju Tadvi said, “One building in this school complex was dangerous. Repair work of the other building is underway. As it is being completed, classrooms are being made available in nearby schools. We will do everything to avoid academic loss of students. Repairs will be completed at the earliest.”