Ludhiana: Even as health and education are considered to be the priority areas of Punjab government, an upper primary government school in Ludhiana lies in a sorry state.
The building of Nanak Nagar government school in Ludhiana's Salem Tabri is in a dilapidated condition. The school is running without a principal since 2014 and there is an acute shortage of teachers. Even, there is neither a peon nor a security guard or cleaner. The school complex has been covered by knee-deep grass posing risk for children
Rajinder Gupta, school in-charge said there was a principal for six months in 2014 but after she left nobody joined. For the last nine years, Gupta is carrying out all the administrative responsibilities.
In the absence of a guard, the security of the school is at risk. As there is no group D staff in the school, the teachers themselves have to do the chores. The school in-charge said that he himself is the cleaner and the watchman.
The school is upto class VIII but there is no teacher for Punjabi and Social Studies. The school in-charge said that they have written to the education department several times along with the district education officer about the problem.
Gupta said that despite all these issues, the existing teachers of the school take additional efforts to ensure that the teaching-learning process is not disrupted in any manner. He said that due to recent floods, the school premises could not be cleaned.
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When contacted, Jaswinder Singh, deputy district education officer of Ludhiana said that as far as the issue of cleaning the school complex is concerned, it is being done. "The department has been asked to meet the shortage of staff. The in-charge is looking after the management of the school but, formally we have entrusted the responsibility of this school to the principal of the government school of Ladoval," he said.
