1,200 students of 6 civic body-run schools in Vadodara to be shifted to safer buildings

The decision came only two days after the schools were reopened after being shut down for two days to carry out ‘safety inspections’.

“We have decided to undertake repair work on war-footing and we will claim the funds from the VMC later as it has been discussed to resolve this issue. Since schools function in two shifts, morning and afternoon, we will alter the timings to ensure that the original students of the alternate schools go on with their session and the accommodated children come in the vacant session. The process to seek consent of the parents has begun and they will be shifted soon while the structures are being repaired,” School Board Chairman Minesh Pandya told The Indian Express.

Two other schools — Netaji Subhashchandra (Tandalja) and Hedgewar Shala (Akota) — identified by the school board are yet to be accommodated in alternate locations as the number of students enrolled in the schools is high. No civic-run school is available in the vicinity of these schools, Pandya said, adding, “There are about 600 students each in the two schools in Akota and Tandalja… No private schools will allow us to use their classrooms. So, we are looking at the alternative… In some schools, where only a part has to be repaired, the work can be undertaken even during vacations at the end of the academic session,” Pandya said.

“We have also simultaneously written to the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan department of the state government to clear a proposal to construct new buildings for the civic schools in Vadodara. But we are initiating repair work in the interim period to resolve the issue at the earliest,” Pandya said.

The 22 schools that received the notices were among a number of public facilities that were shut by the VMC after ‘inspections’ in the aftermath of the Harni boat tragedy on January 18 that killed 14 persons, including 12 students and two teachers.

On February 3, the VMC School Board, after a meeting with Mayor Pinki Soni to seek “alternate arrangement” for the 10,000 affected students of the 22 schools, decided to shut the schools for two-days to carry out further ‘inspections’.