Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 7

To improve the infrastructure of schools on the lines of the national Capital, the Srinagar district administration has sent a five-member team to Delhi to study the model of the newly reformed government schools.

The administration wants to change the look of the government schools in Srinagar district.

Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said after studying the model, the team would implement it in Srinagar. He said the pilot project would start from 20 schools in the summer capital.

“A five-member team was on Sunday sent to Delhi to study the model of government schools. The district administration in Srinagar will implement the pilot project in 20 schools. I am only two months old here and we have inspected more than 300 schools which are in a bad condition. Many of them are operating from rented accommodations,” the Deputy Commissioner said.

“We have funds that have not been utilised for many years. We will utilise them for improving the schools and providing scholarships to students,” he said.

Over the last four years, the Delhi Government led by Arvind Kejriwal has brought drastic changes in the government schools. Besides increasing the budget for education, the Delhi Government has sent over 1,000 teachers and principals of government schools for training in Singapore and Finland as the countries are renowned for their pioneering teaching methods.

In the model, which claims to match the private schools, the government has made education its priority by investing in infrastructure — including classrooms, playgrounds and swimming pools — while also upgrading teachers’ skills.

While the total number of government schools in the Valley is 11,704, there are 529 government schools in Srinagar district.

The infrastructure in the government schools across the Valley is poor and many of them lack even basic facilities such as the boundary wall, proper drinking water, toilets and electricity.

“There is a need to completely reform the government schools in the Valley so that the dropout rate decreases. If the Delhi school model is implemented, it will motivate children from disadvantaged backgrounds to continue their education,” said an official of the education department.

Poor infra