50,000 primary school students attend classes without shoes in Agra

Around 50,000 students of government-run primary and junior high schools in Agra are attending classes in slippers instead of shoes this winter.

Although the Basic Education Department have already supplied shoes, most of the pairs do not match the size required forcing the students to attend classes in slippers.

While teachers complained that students were unable to wear shoes of smaller size, the Basic Shiksha Adhikari blamed teachers for not exchanging the ill-fitting shoes from other schools.

However, he has assured of resolving the issue.

While talking to HT, Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Anand Prakash Sharma said, “I have directed the block education officers to inform teachers to exchange shoes from other schools of nearby localities. But still some schools have not followed the instructions.”

He said, “I have also asked the block education officers to get the shoes replaced from the mentioned vendor. Hopefully, they will soon get proper shoes,” BSA added.

According to United Teachers Association (UTA) of Agra, there are around 2,967 government-run primary and junior high schools in the district and around 2.40 lakh students are enrolled here. As many as 166 such schools are functioning in Agra city.

Rajveer Singh, head teacher at primary school in Wazirpura locality said that in his school there are around 25 students who are yet to receive shoes.

“The stock available is of smaller size due to which students have not been distributed shoes. I have informed the officials concerned about the issue, still nothing has been done,” Singh said.

He said, “I have asked teachers from other schools to exchange proper size of shoes, but in those schools too similar problem exists.”

Nidhi Srivsatav, head teacher of the junior high school in Eidgah locality, said that in her school about 17 students are deprived of shoes.

“This problem remains in most of the schools. Around 30%students of every school in the city are deprived of shoes due to size issue,” Nidhi informed.

Sanjeev Sharma, the treasurer of the UTA, said, “The winters in city are at its peak and due to negligence the students are forced to attend school without shoes. The association has informed the officials of the education department about the problem, but still no step has been taken.”

Yogesh Dubey