Studenst sits under the open sun during the exam at Govt. High School at Sarabha Nagar in Ludhiana. Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh
Sweltering under the blazing sun with their uniforms and answer sheets covered in dust, students in several government schools in Ludhiana were struggling to write their exams on Thursday. Sitting on the floor (in some schools even without floor mats), in the playgrounds under open skies, corridors and even under the trees — students were visibly uncomfortable. In some schools, students were crammed into a single room with not even an arms distance between them — sweat and humidity making things worse.
They were struggling in positioning themselves while trying to balance the sheets on the floor or in their laps. Coming from financially weaker backgrounds, some students did not even have cardboards to write on.
This is how the final examinations are being conducted in the government schools of Punjab with schools lacking seating arrangements in absence of proper infrastructure. Majority of schools do not have basic infrastructure like benches and students are being made to sit in open and on the floor.
Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) conducts board exams for classes 10 and 12. The exams for classes 5 and 8 are conducted by State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) under Learning Outcome Evaluation System (LOES) introduced by the previous SAD-BJP government to check students performance without harming ‘no detention policy’ under Right to Education Act. Under LOES, class 5 and 8 students also appear for exams at external centres. They are not detained even if they fail.
Students sits on ground during exam at Shaheed E Azam Sukhdev Thapar Govt Senior Secondary School in Ludhiana. Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh
Without checking the number of benches available with the schools, centres have been established for board and LOES exams. As a result, classes 6, 7,9 and 11 were giving internal exams sitting on school ground or on the floor. In some schools, even class 10 students were found sitting on floors. On Thursday, all the classes from 5 to 12 had their exams and entire seating system was in a mess.
If the shortage of benches wasn’t enough, some schools are not even having an adequate number of mats and rugs and students were seen sitting on the bare floor when The Indian Express team visited schools on Thursday.
At Shaheed-e-Azam Sukhdev Thapar Government Senior Secondary School (Girls), Bharat Nagar, as many as 160 students of classes 6,7 and 9 were made to sit in the open grounds amid wild grasses and construction materials lying nearby. Girls were seen struggling to keep off dust from their sheets and clothes. Some were even sitting under the trees. Of 550 students of class 11 who also had their exam, at least 200 sat on the floor.
Kamaljit Kaur, principal of the school said that they have tried to make the best arrangements with the resources available. “To adjust 600 students of class 10 and 30 from class 5 who came from other schools, we have to make our own students of classes 6,7,9 and 11 to sit in the open. We have a shortage of at least 100 benches.”
For classes 8 and 12, exams for which are held in the second shift, at least 200 students of class 8 were made to sit on the floor due to a shortage of benches.
The situation is even worse at the Government Senior Secondary School, Talwandi Rai where class 10 students gave exams sitting on the floor. The school was made centre for both regular and open students for classes 10 and 12, even as it had an arrangement of 240 benches only. At least 485 candidates of class 10 sat on the floor and in corridors. The school had to use three rooms of another building nearby to seat its own students of classes 6,7,9 and 11.
Principal Baljinder Kaur said that despite her repeated pleas to the officials citing lack of arrangements, her school was made the center. “My school has 240 benches only. We have to make 485 candidates of class 10 and 302 candidates of class 12 sit on floors. We do not even have enough rugs.” This school was even announced as centre for classes 5 and 8 which the principal says she got cancelled after much struggle. “When I told higher ups that there is no arrangement to adjust classes 5 and 8, they asked me to make them sit in the open or in the playground. I was stunned by this reply. How can I make junior classes sit in open under the blazing sun. I refused,” she said.
At the Government Primary School, Sarabha Nagar — students of classes 1 to 4 were sitting on floors under the sun as 70 benches had to be given for class 5 students who were writing exams. A teacher on duty said, “Classes 1 to 4 are suffering as we have all benches for class V. We relieve them early after giving mid-day meal as small children get unwell sitting in open for so long. The centre for our class V students was allotted at village Ayali Kalan which is at least 30 km from here. After much insistence, we got it shifted to our own school.
At Government High School, Sarabha Nagar, classes 6,7 and 9 were sitting on the floor as rooms were occupied by class 10. A student said, “My back and legs started paining after an hour. We had drawing exam. Anyway, it wasn’t possible to draw perfectly without a bench so I came out early. The floor was uneven and there was no mat also.”
No budgetary provision for benches under central schemes, dependent on the state: DGSE
The central government schemes- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)- do not have any budgetary provision for furniture in schools, says Prashant Goyal, director general school education (DGSE) Punjab, speaking to The Indian Express.
“We do not have furniture component under SSA or RMSA. So, we entirely depend on the state budget for benches grant. It is an admitted fact that there is an extreme shortage of benches in our schools right now. We have demanded Rs 22 crore this year from the state for benches. We are hoping it is cleared. As of now, the budget is extremely tight to provide new benches,” he said.
Meanwhile, since grant for benches has not come since years, schools depend on NRIs and NGOs who donate benches. “Earlier grants used to come at least for rugs, now even that has stopped,” said a teacher.