Wall collapse: Govt orders survey of unsafe schools

Issuing the orders on Tuesday,Education Minister I D Dhiman said the exercise would be carried out at the earliest. All deputy directors of elementary and higher education at district level have been asked to get the survey of unsafe school buildings and boundary walls done by the public works department. “They have also been given directions to seek immediate permission to immediately dismantle all such school buildings or boundary walls. Punitive action will be taken against the defaulters,” Dhiman said in a statement.

This is not the first incident of collapse of school infrastructure. In the last five years,two more school buildings — in Chamba and Solan — had collapsed,but no injury or loss of life was reported as the incidents took place when the schools were not in session.

According to information,of the 15,500 elementary school buildings,about 27 schools are functioning out of private buildings and most are in a dilapidated condition. One such primary school in Sanjauli is running from five dingy rooms of the dilapidated Jubbal Sarai building,where 90 students are studying.

Project Director,Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan,Rajesh Sharma said: “We do not have a state-level report on the status of school buildings in terms of safety as this is managed at the school management committee level. The SSA gives an annual maintenance grant of Rs 7,000 for schools with upto two classrooms and Rs 10,000 for those upto five classrooms. It is the responsibility of the committees to ensure fair utilisation of the grant.”

He said the priority was now to shift these 27-odd schools out of the old buildings. “The maintenance grants given to such schools are often not utilised as the owners of private buildings do not allow repairs so that they can be vacated early,” said Sharma.

Una Deputy Commissioner K R Bharti,meanwhile,said: “A technical committee of the officials of public works department has been formed to declare the remaining portion of the boundary wall (at the school where the accident occurred on Monday) unsafe and demolish it. The magisterial inquiry has started. It is clear that the wall was not too strong as it was built of single files of bricks and the area had also felt mild tremors of earthquake a day before.”

The four deceased students — Aman Kumar (8),Raman Kumar (7),Sanjeev Kumar (11) and Sheetal Kumar (11) — were cremated together in the village on Tuesday.

In Shimla,the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) staged a protest outside the office of Rajesh Sharma against the “small amount of compensation” given to the families of the deceased (Rs 5,000 each) and the injured ten-year-old boy,Karan Kumar (Rs 3,000). It demanded more compensation for the families. CPIM state secretary Rakesh Singha demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the deceased.