Excelsior Correspondent
Sopore, Nov 6: Students and teachers of Government Girls Higher Secondary School of Sopore are facing untold hardships as their institution grapples with space and basic facilities.
Located in the busy market in the town, the school management finds it difficult to accommodate around 1800 girl students in the two storey building, which has few lecture halls for teaching.
Abdul Ahad Charoo, a senior teacher of the school said they were facing immense hardships to teach the students in congested classrooms.
“Nearly 1800 students are enrolled with almost all major streams being taught. But, we fear for the careers of these students as only 30 teachers including lectures are teaching them. The school has a huge staff dearth in addition to space. Only five rooms are available for teaching,” Charoo said.
Surprisingly, the school has only one English Lecturer while 18 lectures are required to be delivered everyday for different streams. The school management uses the services of Master Grade teachers to “facilitate” the English class-work. The school has a single laboratory for carrying out experiments and practical lessons in science subjects.
Not only this, the school’s problems have been aggravated by its location. More than 100 vendors have encroached upon the path running alongside the school wall that separates it from its small premises. The road remains jammed with traffic rush as vendors have encroached upon it, and the honking by the vehicles adds to the noise.
The Sopore Municipal Council has also deteriorated the school environment by piling up garbage dumps alongside its wall just near the entry gate.
The teachers said the school’s enrollment was further burdened after students from a high school were shifted there when their school building collapsed in 2010.
The school management and the local residents said they have suggested to the government to shift the school to the DIET building as that has enough space to accommodate the heavy roll of students.
Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Ghulam Mohammad Khawaja, corroborated with the suggestion of the residents and school teachers.
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