Students remain huddled in classrooms in Bandipora school due to space shortage

Bandipora, Apr 13: The Boys Middle School in Kralpora village in north Kashmir's Bandipora district lacks adequate space, which is affecting the standard of education.

Locals told Greater Kashmir that they have been asking higher-ups for additional land and buildings for the school for over a decade so that children at the school receive uninterrupted education in a safe environment

The insiders in the school shared grim details narrating how they have to "run four classes in a single classroom" as the school also lacks ground space.

Even though the school has six teachers, they aren't able to do justice since the lack of space "is a huge problem" in imparting quality education from KG to 8th standard.

The school was upgraded to a middle school in 2009 after an old structure was demolished somewhere between 2004 and 2005 under SSA.

The school has just three rooms, two of which are used for classroom purposes. The additional space of the office room is also being used to teach a few classes, the insiders said.

"For the past three years, the issue has become more complex. This happened when the landlord closed the extra space of five classrooms that the education department had been renting," locals claimed.

The dilapidated condition of the building as well as classrooms, which the school administration claimed was due to faulty drainage choked by the villagers, was visible.

Besides, when it snows, the snow that falls from the roof gets into the classrooms which ruins the interiors and infrastructure, locals said.

Head of the institution Zahoor Ahmad agreed that there was an accommodation issue in the school for hundred enrolled children.

He, however, said that the representation for additional space and building has been sent to the higher ups via ZEO and the CEO's office.

"There indeed is a space accommodation issue. We have made the last representation in November 2023 for additional accommodation."

Moreover, he said, "we are also awaiting the approval from the higher ups to use rented space in the village to run classes from there."