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Ludhiana: Multipurpose indoor stadium a boon in absence of playground at Government School Sekhewal
The multipurpose indoor stadium, which covers 500 square feet area, hosts a judo hall on the ground floor, while the badminton court has been built on the second floor of Government School Sekhewal, Ludhiana
To deal with the dearth of ample playground for the increasing strength of students— which rose from 700 in 2018 to 2,457 in 2022— the Government Senior Secondary Smart School Sekhewal has come up with an innovative solution by building a multipurpose indoor stadium with two badminton, one table tennis court and a judo hall at a cost of over ₹1-crore.
The stadium, which covers 500 square feet area, hosts a judo hall on the ground floor, while the badminton court has been built on the second floor. Following international standards, the height for the court has been kept at 30 feet and imported material has been used for the mats.
It is the sole government school in the locality which offers science stream, along with non-medical and commerce subjects, for Class 11 and 12 students. It caters to students from different areas, including Rahon Road, Kailash road and Tajpur road. According to the school authorities, in 2021-2022, the school recorded a 70 per cent increase in students’ enrolment.
Sharing the growth of the school, principal Naresh Kumar said, “In 2016, school had just ten rooms, out of which four were unsafe, now the school has a total of 37 rooms, including a computer lab, science lab, maths lab, English lab and a library.” He said, “Nine classrooms, separate washrooms and water filter system have been built by the Vardhman group under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.”
“As the cover area of the school increased, we found ourselves short of area for sports and other extracurricular activities, we sent students to Guru Nanak Stadium for practice and several students from our school have brought laurels in the state and national level games” he added.
He said that the facility would enable students studying in the school and living in nearby areas to practice here.
Varindra Parveen, a teacher at the school who was accorded a state award on teachers’ day in 2021 for creating a science park in her school, said, “As the residents of the area have been supportive in increasing the enrolment, the school ranks among the top schools in the area.”
Free badminton academy in pipeline
She said that the plan to start a free badminton academy at the school for other children in the area is also in the pipeline.
The project has been funded by utilising the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development (MLA-LAD) funds granted by former MLA (Ludhiana North) Rakesh Pandey and has been executed by Ludhiana municipal corporation.
Teachers overburdened
The school which has infrastructure for 1,600 students in two shifts has over 2,500 students, the teachers said that due to lack of infrastructure, a number of students could not get admission in the current session.
The teachers said that the current sanctioned strength of teachers is lower than what is required and should be increased. The school currently has 30 lecturers and 30 teachers.
While there are only three peons, sweeper and helper posts sanctioned for the Class IV employees are vacant and the school is using the school management committee funds to hire the employees privately.
