Shimla, Sep 4 (PTI) A total of 177 government schools in Himachal Pradesh lack buildings, and classes for their students are being conducted in alternate premises, Education Minister Rohit Thakur has told the assembly.
The minister also provided details regarding the schools closed in the state over the past three years. According to the government, a total of 1,526 schools have been closed in Himachal Pradesh.
He was responding to a question by BJP MLA Inder Dutt Lakhanpal on Thursday, the concluding day of the monsoon session.
The minister said classes for the schools without their own buildings are being held in other government school buildings, private premises, rest houses, community centres, Mahila Mandal (women’s group) halls and Panchayat buildings.
Twelve of these schools have been declared unsafe in recent years due to natural disasters, he added.
The government said construction work is underway for 28 school buildings, while funds have already been released for the construction of 14 others.
Construction for the remaining schools is stalled due to the unavailability of land or pending land acquisition issues, it said.
Thakur further said of the 1,526 schools closed over three years, the Education Department owns the buildings of 1,473 schools, 577 of which have been handed over to other departments for use, based on requirements and availability.
These premises are now being utilised for various government and community activities by the Panchayati Raj Department, Mahila Mandals, Yuvak Mandals (youth groups), Anganwadi centres, the Department of Environment, Science and Technology, the Health Department, the AYUSH Department, the Animal Husbandry Department, and temple committees.
Fifty-three of the closed buildings were previously operating in private or rented buildings. Consequently, following their closure, the Education Department has no government buildings associated with these schools, the minister said.
The Government Senior Secondary School in Chamba district’s Kunra is one of the schools lacking its own building, as its premises were declared unsafe following a disaster, necessitating its relocation to the Public Works Department’s (PWD) rest house.
Currently, the school operates out of four rooms in the rest house, accommodating 99 students.
The process of acquiring land for the construction of a new school building is ongoing, according to officials. However, no deadline to complete the process is yet known, they said. PTI BPL PRK
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