This school building has no staircase

This Pune Municipal Corporation-run school in Bibwewadi is an example of the sorry state of most civic schools in the city.

This Pune Municipal Corporation-run school in Bibwewadi is an example of the sorry state of most civic schools in the city. At first glance,Chintamanrao Deshmukh School in Bibwewadi may create an impressive picture. Unlike other PMC-run schools,the exteriors of the building is in good state. A closer look reveals that the school,where students of Class I to IV study,has two buildings. Classes I to II are conducted in one building and the other is for Class III to IV.

Three years back,one of the buildings was expanded from a single-storey to a three-storey structure. Eight additional classrooms were built on the second and the third floors. However,despite having ready-to-use classrooms on its premises,the school cannot use it because a proper staircase has not been built. Showing the documents and correspondence shared by the school with the education officer and zonal office at regular intervals since 2010,Jaihind Genba Ranjane,headmaster of the school,said,We have written so many letters to the authorities but havent got any response. The work on a proper staircase was slated to begin in April. Construction material was brought in and kept at the school compound but in May,they took back the material without starting work. Charushila Aarde,principal of the school,adds that interior like paintings and electric wiring have been completed.

This is just one of the problems of the school. Around five years back,one of the walls was left unfinished since the school came into inception in 1986. Since the wall is broken,nearby shops and houses throw garbage into the school premises. We approached officials many times to construct the wall but nothing has been done about it, said Ranjane.

One can spot liquor bottles and other garbage lying in the school ground. Even a big tank built in the school ground,supposed to be used for Ganesh Visarjan,is used for dumping garbage. We had asked PMC officials to do something to close this tank but they didnt pay heed to our requests, he added. There are 700 students in the school.

While 350 attend school in the first shift from 7 am to 12 pm,the remaining attend from 12:15 pm to 5.30 pm. Around 55 to 60 students sit in one class. There are 18 teachers. For 700 students,there are six toilets three for boys and three for girls.

There are 13 additional toilets built three years back but they cannot be used because there is some drainage problem. We informed the zonal office and the education board but no action was taken, said Ranjane.

The name of the school shows it is a boys school but there are girls enrolled.

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We know the name is misleading but never thought of changing the name, said the principal.

According to municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak,under RTE all the headmasters of the school are sanctioned an amount to handle small infrastructure problems of their school at the local level with assistance of local education committee.

For bigger infrastructural problems,like drainage,sanitation,staircase construction and so on,assistant education officer have to coordinate with the relevant ward office.

We made a complete inventory of infrastructure requirement of all schools,segregating them into short term,medium term and long term requirements. We will take action accordingly, he said.

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