| Nandpur GMS engages students to clean school premises | | ----ZEO assures inquiry, CEO justifies act---- | |  Akshay Azad
Jammu, Aug 2: The famous quote, "Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve" written on walls of every school in J&K, is irrelevant for the students of Government Middle School (GMS), Nandpur, where students are engaged to clean school premises and for other chores in gross violation of norms.
Most shockingly, ZEO assured to initiate inquiry but Chief Education Officer (CEO) justified the act of the school management.
In the GMS, Nandpur, near Miran Sahib, students including boys and girls, were engaged by school management to clean the premises.
Three to four students were seen uprooting grass near Vrandah of school in the morning hours and a male teacher was found instructing them, besides four persons including Niab Sarpanch of area (Kali) were sitting on chairs in Varandah of school, busy in chatting.
On other side of the varandah, girl students were cleaning chairs and sofa set as teachers found the furniture unfit for sitting as it had not been used for two months of summer vacations.
The locals of Nandpur informed that the school playground was full of bushes and during summer vacations, even some villagers went inside school premises to answer nature's call. "Instead of engaging some labourers, every year students are engaged to clean entire school premises", a resident said, adding that all the students studying there belonged to economically weaker families, so they were engaged to do menial jobs by teachers, without any hesitation.
"It is a common practice in almost every government school of rural areas, wherein poor students are studying. If children of some government employee or a bureaucrat would be studying in these government schools, none of the school teachers would dare to employ students to clear bushes or to broom classrooms", he said. While criticising the school management and the Niab Sarpanch of area, a government employee said that action should be taken against the school teachers and Principal, as employing students to do menial jobs, was a fit case of human rights violation. Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Miran Sahib, Devraj said that he would enquire into the incident on Monday and take proper action.
But most shockingly, Chief Education Officer Tarsem Lal said, "When you and we were studying in schools, at that time, we also used to do such jobs and if some school management has employed students to clean school premises on the first day of school's opening, it is not a big issue".
He said that they (students in government schools) had been getting free education in government schools and if they had done some work, it was not a big deal. When asked that no work is taken from students, Tarsem Lal said, "They (rich students) are giving money so how they would work. We have very less money and have no sweepers and chowkidars in schools, so how we will manage". |
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