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No furniture, students in this Dehradun govt school sit on the floor
The school has 144 students but does not have a single piece of furniture or boundary wall on one side, posing a security threat.
It is biting cold on a winter morning. Children are trickling in to a government primary school in Raipur, in sub-urban Dehradun, and jostling for space on jute mats spread inside the classrooms as well as outside the classes on the school premises.
The school has 144 students but does not have a single piece of furniture or boundary wall on one side, posing a security threat.
The administrative work of the school is managed by a teacher as it doesn’t have a principal. The former principal passed away in 2017 and no appointment was made since then.
This is one among several schools in the state that are struggling without basic necessities.
State education minister Arvind Pandey has been pushing for better facilities for students in government schools, but they are still a distant dream for many schools in the state.
According to the education department data for 2017-2018, out of 1,412 schools in Dehradun, 649 schools do not have a playground, 329 schools do not have ramp facilities or boundary walls, and fencing is missing in 117 schools.
Sunita Rawat, the teacher in charge of the primary school in Raipur, said: “We got ~50,000 from the department this month and we will use it to repair the floors and toilets. We never had furniture in the school and students have been sitting on mats only.”
She also added that even the neighbouring schools don’t have such facilities and they “never asked the department especially for furniture”.
Another teacher said on condition of anonymity: “We requested the department to release funds for repairing the boundary wall many times as it is a worry if any child sneaks out through the broken part of the wall.”
SB Joshi, chief education officer of Dehradun, said: “There are over 1,000 schools in the district and we are trying to provide furniture to all. Till then, jute mats and carpets are provided for students to sit on.”
The department of school education sanctioned Rs 10 crore in November to all 13 districts for buying furniture for government schools.
“We received money from the government and have disbursed it to different districts but issuing of tender and other such procedures may take time,” said VS Rawat, additional director, elementary education.
