Civic body to repair Aarey school toilets

Mumbai: The civic body has directed the officials of the School Infrastructure Committee (SIC) to repair toilets at the Aarey Municipal School Complex (AMSC), Goregaon East, on priority

Mumbai: The civic body has directed the officials of the School Infrastructure Committee (SIC) to repair toilets at the Aarey Municipal School Complex (AMSC), Goregaon East, on priority. On Monday, the SIC officials visited the school and reviewed works that needed to be undertaken.

HT Image

Last week, HT reported that parents from 27 adivasi padas in Aarey Colony had decided not to send their kids back to school after the Diwali break ends on November 9, owing to the non-maintenance of its toilets, washrooms and sewer lines. Around 1,500 children study at AMSC, which comprises five primary schools and one secondary school.

Following the report, assistant municipal commissioner (AMC) of P-South ward Rajesh Akre ordered repairs of the toilets in schools before vacation ends. “Other repair work will be done once school reopens,” said Akre.

“We took a review of the repair work that needs to be done. The SIC will start toilet repair work as soon as possible,” said an official.

Earlier this week, the school principal sent out a message to all parents asking them to send their children to school on the first day after the Diwali vacation. On Tuesday, the parents decided to send their children to school and discuss with the principal on the need to fix the toilets and other issues.

In 2012, the civic body spent ₹3.42 crore on repair work in the school. But despite this expense, the school’s infrastructure is even worse than it was earlier, they said. The parents said that for the last three months, there has been no water in the toilets and no taps in the washbasins. “Moreover, the entire complex is suffused with foul smell emanating from the damaged sewer line,” rued a parent.

A social worker in the Aarey area who moved his three children out of the BMC school to another one outside Aarey Colony said there are many students from the padas who want good education, are willing to study hard and do well, but most of them drop out of school because of this kind of poor infrastructure.