It is time that the J&K government should comply with the directions issued by the Union Education Ministry regarding the audit and repair of unsafe school buildings across the country.
The situation in J&K is also disappointing thus making it imperative to intervene and do the needful to make sure that not even a single school building remains unsafe or uncongenial for the students and the staff. There is no doubt that the government in J&K has accomplished a lot in improving school edifice in last few years and the situation in urban centres has improved drastically but the far off pockets of the Union Territory still lacked things and therefore it is necessary that the centre’s direction to conduct an immediate assessment of all government, government-aided, and private school buildings is to be taken up very seriously to make all schools in J&K safe and welcoming for the student fraternity and the staff.
It is necessary to recall the unfortunate incident that happened recently in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar, where seven students had died while 27 others were injured after the roof of a school collapsed. It is important to take immediate steps in this regard to stop such tragedies from happening again and the government’s direction in this regard needs to be followed in letter and spirit.
As far as J&K is concerned, the scenario here is also not very rosy and therefore it is important to identify unused or dilapidated structures through safety audits in line with national guidelines, and ensure early repairs so that tragedies like the one mentioned earlier should not be repeated in schools in J&K. It is pertinent to mention that as per Union Government’s August 7 directive, authorities have been instructed to demolish or repair unsafe structures and ensure they are not used until certified as safe by competent engineers.
The UTs and the states have also been advised to make temporary arrangements for the continuation of classes where demolition or major repairs are required. As the union education ministry has called for urgent intervention to ensure strict compliance, warning that non-adherence may attract action under relevant provisions, the government of J&K should not waste even a jiffy in accomplishing this significant task as the safety of forthcoming nation builders is concerned. All said and done, the need of the hour is to take swift and uncompromising action to prevent avoidable disasters in the education sector.
