Pvt schools eye NMC school students in Hazari Pahad

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Nagpur: Dearth of students in the schools being run by Nagpur Municipal Corporation is not the new thing in trend, but this NMC school has a different tale to tell.

Eklavya Marathi Senior Primary School, an NMC school in Hazari Pahad is not only facing serious dearth of students, a miniscule count of just 58 students from nursery to class 8th, it also faces mass exodus of its students to nearby private English medium schools.

On the school front, Eklavya school is already marred with series of problems that mainly include lack of basic facilities like drinking water and clean toilets, apart from shabbily managed classrooms and extremely poor sitting conditions.

The school, located in ward no 24 has 8 teachers, one cleaner and one peon at present. The school runs between 11 am and 5 pm. Classwise, the school has 10 students in nursery, 9 students in class 1, 5 in class 2, 6 in class 3, 11 in class 4, 6 in class 5, 4 in class 6, 4 in class 7 and just 3 students in class 3. This takes the total number of students to 58. If 10 students of nursery is separated then the school actually has only 48 students from class 1 to class 8.

Why the count is fast diminishing?
The teachers and staff at Eklavya Senior Primary School have alleged that the private schools are resorting to unfair practices to lure the students to their schools. “They have been attracting our students by offering them donation free admission and free uniforms, thus bringing the count to alarming low in our school”, alleges one of the staff at Eklavya school.


NMC lends deaf ear

The matter was also reported to NMC Education Department couple of times but the authorities have not paid any heed to any of the complaints. The school had also started bus service for the students the expense of which was being borne by the teachers. But one of the private schools took the bus driver into its confidence and diverted 50 students to their school. Despite such a big move to sabotage the purpose of the school, NMC authorities have not initiated any action.


Teachers made to do other works

When Nagpur Today tried to contact school incharge Malti Bagle, she was not available in her room. Meanwhile the teachers alleged that the teachers are mostly engaged in other works for rest of the year. This include election related works too. This takes heavy toll on the education of students. Entire staff blamed the private schools mushrooming nearby, for the receding number of students.




—Shamanand Tayde