Education department’s lackadaisical approach towards construction of new schools

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag: Even after spending lakhs of rupees, a school building constructed 10 years ago, by the education department here at Sheikhpora in  the Shangus area of Anantnag district, the department has forgotten to shift the old school into the new school building. As a result, it’s not only giving tough time to students, but its sheer wastage of money and resources.
The school building was constructed in 2010 under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and has been lying abandoned since then, pointing to the lackadaisical approach of the education department.
Talking to Arising state locals said that we have informed several times authorities to shift the school in the new building, but the concerned officials didn’t bother to shift the school.
Surprisingly, they blame teachers who refuse to shift the school to the new building.
According to the locals, the old govt building has 5 rooms including the office for the staff, and has 100 above students enrolled in school with 8 teaching staff. Our wards are facing a huge space crunch in old middle school; the education department has left them on God’s Mercy, they complained.
Talking to the Arising state an official wishing anonymity said that this is not the only institution where the government has brazenly wasted resources, but there are hundreds of such cases which expose alleged deep-rooted nexus in the department. In most of the cases, teachers were allegedly hand-in-glove, which resulted in wastage of resources.
Added that the buildings have been constructed just to pave way for opening of new SSA schools, it can easily be concluded that funds worth crores have gone down the drain in the education department in the name of opening schools under the scheme, he said.
The school building, which was built ten years ago, has fallen into disrepair today. According to the locals, Rs. 16 lakhs was spent for the construction of school building, but even after its completion , ten years back, the education department refrained from teaching children here, they said.
The school building has been turned into a haunted bungalow due to negligence by the education department. Locals told Arising state that the school building has now become a hub of drug addicts and gamblers. The place where our children were to be educated has now become a headache for us, because all the bad things that are happening in this area are being done in this school building, they said.
Meanwhile, talking to Arising State ZEO Shangus Shabir Ahmad said ,” the school building is unsafe for teaching and was constructed on high altitude from the village before ten years back. The area is prone to wild animals and there is no facility like water etc. he said. The school is prone to landslides,  which have damaged the building recently. I have personally visited the spot and inspected the school. I think at that time, the school building has been constructed just to pave way for opening of new schools and gaining political mileage, “he said.
However, Arising state also tried to contact the Chief Education Officer Anantnag, but his number was out of reach.