21 KV buildings are judged as unsafe to be housing schools, in an audit

Vinod Kakumanu
July 31, 2019, 7:09 p.m.

The infrastructure of the government schools has been reported to be in a dismal state. This state of affairs does not merely apply to the primary schools in rural India as evidenced by the report regarding Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) or Central Schools. It has been reported that in excess of 20 KVs are housed in buildings that are dilapidated to the extent of being hazardous. This finding has surfaced in an audit that declared the buildings to be partially safe at best and fully unsafe at worst. The HRD ministry has been prompted to issue a directive signaling that the schools should not continue to run in the buildings in question.

According to the HRD ministry officials, the majority of such buildings bordering expiry are in the state of Maharashtra (8), Assam follows with 3 decrepit central schools.

Half of the said buildings, in the case of Maharashtra were constructed in the 1960s.

Other states which have been named as the hosts of dilapidated KVs include Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat (2 each), Tripura, Meghalaya, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim (1 each).

"The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan had initiated action to get the technical audit done in respect of more than 10 years old school buildings through the Indian Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology and government engineering colleges.”

"As per the audit report, 21 KV buildings were found unsafe. While 18 of them have been found partially unsafe, three have been declared fully unsafe," a senior ministry official told PTI.

3 KV buildings that are categorized as “fully unsafe” are in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

"The work of replacement of unsafe school buildings have been sanctioned in four KVs, including one in Gujarat and three in Maharashtra," the official added.

The remaining 17 KVs that are categorized as having partially unsafe buildings will see repair and replacement work subject to the availability of funds.

In the interim, HRD ministry has issued the directive to not run schools in the unsafe buildings. It remains to be seen how and when this directive is abided by.

1,206 KVs are run by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in India under the aegis of the HRD Ministry; there are 3 KVs that are based abroad. 260 KVs operated by the Sangathan are run in temporary premises provided by sponsors. Majority of such schools is in Madhya Pradesh followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar.