Mumbai: As the clock ticked past 7 am, students of Mumbai Public School, Hariyali Village (CBSE) in Vikhroli rolled out their yoga mats to sit for their classes. With no availability of benches in eight classrooms in the school, the students have no option but to sit on the mats and study for hours.
This is not the only problem faced by pupils who are starting their new academic year, several students in BMC-run Mumbai Public Schools face challenges, including no teachers to washrooms without water.
After the school administration shrugged off their responsibility to arrange benches for the students, parents contributed ₹300 each to purchase mats for their children. “The staff of Mumbai Public School Hariyali Village told us to make arrangements for mats for the students. Accordingly, we arranged yoga mats at our own expense, but now we have decided to purchase a big mat for the entire class,” said a parent of class 2 students.
According to the parents of class 2 students, the size of the class is 20x15sq feet for which they need mats. “As per the quotation received from the local vendor, we need to spend around ₹11,200 to purchase mats. Considering the number of students, we divided the amount and will buy mats on Monday,” said another parent from a class 3 student.
The parents also complained about the water shortage in the school. Asif Shaikh, a local social worker, said, “There is not enough water in the school premises. Even if the school gets two water tankers a day, it is not enough for around 600 students who are studying at the school premises from classes 1 to 9. Due to water shortage, most students chose not to use washrooms at the school which will affect their health.”
Parents and students have been complaining about it, but no one has paid heed to them. Shaikh also pointed out that there are not enough teachers appointed in the school due to which two classes are merged every day.
In another incident, Santosh Nagar BMC school, Goregaon East was running without enough teachers from the day school reopened. A video posted on social media on Thursday showed students saying they are not having classes because there are no teachers available.
In response, an education officer said, “Teachers appointment is in progress, and very soon BMC is going to complete the appointment of 1,000 teachers. After this, the issue of teacher shortage will be solved.”
In response to the Vikhroli-based school, an officer stated that the pay order for the bench purchase is released and schools will get benches in the next 8-10 days.