2-day holiday for 119 civic body-run schools in Vadodara amid looming safety concern

According to Minesh Pandya, Chairman of the VMC School Board, the VMC ward offices served evacuation notices to 22 schools as the structures were ‘unsafe’, affecting a total of 10,000 students. The notices, which were served since January 25, underline, “As per primary inspection, the structure of the school building is unsafe. The School Board is directed to repair or reconstruct the structure or make alternate arrangements for the students as it will be the responsibility of the School Board in case of a mishap due to the structural instability.”

Members of the school board on Saturday met Mayor Pinki Soni regarding the matter. Soni convened a meeting in the presence of Standing Committee chairperson Dr Sheetal Mistry, Vadodara City Engineer Alpesh Majmundar, and VMC Commissioner Dilip Rana to decide the further course of action and it has been decided that the School Board will prepare a report of the extent of damage to the school structures and how many of them can be salvaged.

Pandya said, “In the meeting, we made a representation to the Mayor, seeking alternate arrangements to run schools for 10,000 students, who will be affected by the closure of 22 buildings. For now, we have declared a two-day holiday on Monday and Tuesday. It has been decided that the School Board will conduct an inspection and prepare a report that has to be submitted to the VMC. We will call in an Executive Engineer of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan department of the state government to help us prepare a report… Almost all of these 22 schools and some more have been petitioning the respective VMC Ward offices to undertake repair and maintenance of the structures regularly. However, the VMC has not paid any heed…”

When contacted, City Engineer Alpesh Majmundar told The Sunday Express that it was the school board that should have ensured a safety audit of structures over the years. “The VMC ward Offices have attended to representations of schools for repair works, building toilets, and other such issues that keep coming up. However, the current notice is for structural safety and the onus of the repair work and reconstruction of the structure of the building lies with the School Board under its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme. We have served the notices as part of our inspections (following the Harni tragedy) and the notice is for structural stability and safety,” Majmundar said.

Close to 35,000 students attend 119 VMC-run schools in two sessions– morning and afternoon. Pandya added that the School Board, on its own accord, had repaired 10 school buildings out of the 119 existing buildings in the last year. “The construction of the new school buildings is the responsibility of the state government under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Project but the maintenance of the structures is the responsibility of the Ward Offices,” Pandya said, adding, “The annual budget of the VMC has no provision for funds to the School Board to carry out any maintenance, it is given to the Ward Offices… We must ask the VMC why it has not constructed a single school in the city in over 72 years? Even this year, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has cleared a draft for 18 new schools but VMC has nothing in the budget… Had the VMC Ward Offices done their duty and repaired the structures as and when needed over the years, it would not have reached this stage.” Pandya pointed out that in the list of 22 school buildings that have been served notice, there is also a former VMC school that was located at Pratapmadgha Pol in the old city area. “This school was handed over to the VMC by the School Board about ten years ago as it was also termed dilapidated.

Thereafter, the VMC repaired the school and gave it on lease to an NGO, which is running a school– NV Patwa Memorial– from the building. But the VMC officers are so disconnected with facts that they have served the notice to the School Board for the same school,” Pandya said. Another school, Premanand Kavi Vidyalaya in Wadi, has also been evacuated five years ago and is closed. For now, the School Board has decided to plan the shifting and repairs. “In the meeting with the Mayor, Standing Committee Chairman, and other officers, the School Board was told to come up with a plan and budget for repairs, after which the future course would be decided… We will see how many of the structures are repairable. For those structures that cannot be repaired, we will plan an alternate arrangement for the students with the consent of the parents by using the nearest available schools and classrooms where they can be temporarily accommodated,” Pandya added.

As part of its inspections after the boat tragedy, the VMC has also shut four Atithigruh (community halls) in the city for repairs as well as the town hall, Sayaji Nagar Gruh. ” We have also shut all the public amusement sites and rides under the VMC, including the boating in Sursagar Lake as well as the Sayaji Express train in Sayaji Baug… These will remain closed until their latest certification and inspection reports are clear,” Majmundar added.