Schooling of kids worry rehabilitated families

Absence of a permanent school building in Mauli Jagran, where 1,568 flats were allotted to the slum-dwellers on Tuesday, has left the beneficiaries in the lurch. The residents are complaining that their children will have to travel to schools as far as Sectors 56, 52 and Parsora, where their children are currently enrolled.

Absence of a permanent school building in Mauli Jagran, where 1,568 flats were allotted to the slum-dwellers on Tuesday, has left the beneficiaries in the lurch.

The residents are complaining that their children will have to travel to schools as far as Sectors 56, 52 and Parsora, where their children are currently enrolled.

As a make-shift arrangement, the UT education department has earmarked 29 flats (flat number 33 to 61) constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) to run a primary school.

These one-room flats have been constructed for rehabilitation of slum-dwellers from Palsora Colony, Colony No. 4, Colony No. 5, Sector 56 and other slum areas of the city and periphery.

“The administration should have earmarked a site for a new school building near the flats. Since the nearby government schools in Mauli Jagran are already crowded, there is a need for a new school here. Rather than making a temporary arrangement for primary classes, the department should have constructed a permanent school here,” said Preetam, a beneficiary.

“My children study in Class 9 in a government school in Sector 56 and now it would be really inconvenient for me to drop them daily. Though the department has made the arrangement only for primary school, but what about the students studying in higher classes?” he added.

When asked about any plans to construct a new school inside the area, a senior education official denied any such communication from the administration.

“We already have five schools in nearby areas and thus the students would be adjusted in these schools only. We would inform the parents to approach the nearest schools for admissions of their wards. So far, we do not have any plan to set up a new school there,” said Kamlesh Kumar, DPI (schools).

He added that new primary school in Mauli Jagran would start functioning from July 1.

The education department is already running a primary school for the children of families rehabilitated in Dhanas. The department has already completed the construction of one of the two new high schools in the area.

“We would be able to complete the construction of the other high school in Dhanas within three months. We have already enrolled over 800 students in the new high school in the area,” added the DPI.