Converting school grounds into neighbourhood parks in Chandigarh, a ‘waste of money’

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 18

The project to turn government school grounds into neighbourhood parks by raising long and high steel-wire fencings is turning out to be a “waste of public money”.

Despite spending lakhs of rupees on raising the fencing at government school grounds, in order to secure school buildings, the UT Education Department failed to deploy security guards at the site.

They have also been unable to maintain visitors’ record and allocate time slots or segregate fields for different genders.

“This is a complete waste of money. There has been no record on how many visitors came or any designated slots for using the grounds. There’s no check at all, if someone is playing cricket on a handball pitch... It’s only damaging the infrastructure,” said a faculty member.

“There has been no check, whether the grounds are being used for playing purpose or other activities. Many would play cards here and God knows what not,” said the miffed faculty member.

As per faculty members, raising a mere fencing won’t solve the purpose. “There’s a single gate entrance. The department should deploy a security guards at grounds. They should also provide washroom facilities…There should be a proper changing room inside the fenced area so as to avoid any kind of mishap,” said another faculty member.

“If the project aims to turn the school grounds into neighbourhood parks, the administration needs to take certain steps to achieve the goal. During festive seasons, the grounds get turn into parking lots and on usual days, we have outsiders playing here without any verification,” added the faculty member.

The issue is important in view of the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections. The project was introduced after local councillors called for opening of government school grounds to kids during evening hours.

However, the councillors are now demanding to raise indoor sports complexes at government schools on the verge of other such complexes in the city.

“To introduce a new project is a good initiative, but the existing projects should be reviewed first. Grounds hold sanctity for players and coaches, so it should be treated in the same manner,” said a coach.