Students stacked like herd; probe ordered

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 12

The Education Department on Thursday initiated a probe against the GHG Public Senior Secondary School, Pakhowal, after the Childline India Foundation which received an anonymous complaint visited the school.

In what can be termed as a brazen violation of Right to Education (RTE) Act, the child helpline team found that there were nearly 70 students in each primary class against the prescribed 30:1 Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) under RTE Act.

Balbir Kaur of Government Senior Secondary School, Pakhowal, who was made an inquiry officer said, “All primary classes, including nursery, LKG, UKG have more than 70 students each. Rooms are also not spacious at all. School authorities informed that dimension of rooms is only 20x15, which is quite less considering the strength of students in each class. There is a separate section for boys and girls of senior secondary classes due to which there is paucity of rooms.”

The school in question had submitted a written statement (copy with The Tribune) of number of students in each classroom. There were 75 students in nursery class, 69 students in LKG and 68 in UKG.

Kuldeep Singh Mann, Director, Childline India Foundation, Ludhiana said, “We received an anonymous complaint on our helpline number 1098 of children facing a hard time in classrooms. Upon visiting the school, we found that there was no proper ventilation in rooms. The PTR was being violated due to which studies are being affected. The school has agreed to divide students in two sections after constructing new rooms. Fans will also be installed in all classrooms.”

Meanwhile, Principal of the school Bhupinder Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.