Govt school ‘forced’ to shift base,staff say move unjust

“PWD has declared the building unsafe,while even a casual onlooker can say that there is nothing wrong with it,” said Sunita Nain,principal of the school. “They have done this only because we objected to their demand for Rs 49 lakh to carry out minor repairs here,which include plastering the outer walls of classrooms,pillars and some leakage that was caused recently due to heavy showers,” said Sudhir Kumar,a teacher.

When Newsline visited the school,we found that the outer walls did require plastering and water accumulated on rooftops of some classrooms had been drained out to prevent seepage. The staff termed it “minor renovation”,but were not willing to agree with the PWD that the building is unsafe. They said similar repairs had been carried out a few years ago,too. The staff was also miffed at the PWD declaring its new wing,which has a computer lab and a few classrooms,“unsafe” when it was constructed only a year ago. The status of the newly renovated science laboratories is also the same,which,according to the PWD,are unsafe.

The school said that the school would lose out on the students if it is forced to shift to a government school in Sector 6. “It is the future of the students,too,that is at stake. Most of our students who are from Indira Colony,Azad Colony and Manimajra,study in the morning and work in the evening to support their families. Now,with the evening shift in the new school,they are most likely to drop out,” the principal said. The executive engineer,PWD (B&R),G S Walia,who had conducted the inspection,could not be reached for comments.