To run a government school in Dahod, the teachers paid the rent of the building. Vadodara News – Times of India

The dilapidated building of Jhalod Road Primary School

Vadodara: Strange as it may sound, but a government primary school in Dahod was running from a rented premises. The rent for the building was being paid by the school teachers and some well wishers.
Dahod’s Jhalod Road primary school had about 600 children. The school was running from a building on Jhalod Road in Dahod and was inaugurated in 1937. The building became dilapidated and its walls also began to have plaster layers. A school employee was also injured.
In view of this situation, a decision was taken to vacate the school building two years ago. It is around this time that the staff decided to move it to the building of Asha Kiran School, a private school. The rent for the new premises was to be paid at the rate of 10,000 per month.
The interesting thing is that only government primary school teachers were paying the rent. Officials are still puzzled as to why this happened. Ideally, the students should have been absorbed into other government schools in the area. District Primary Education Officer Mayur Parekh said, “It is true that the teachers were paying the rent of the building. He said that it is not possible for the education department to pay the rent of a private school.
But the situation worsened when the management of the private school wanted its premises to be vacated. A new building was planned for a government primary school, but has not yet been constructed. The dilapidated old building is also unsuitable for temporary use.
Parekh said the delay in the work on the new school was because under the smart city project it was planned that the school should be bigger and with more facilities. This required a large plot of land and the authorities zeroed in on the land in the possession of the state’s Prohibition and Excise Department. However, the land has not been given yet.
Parents and students made representations to the top officials of Dahod district administration on Tuesday. He has demanded that the case be dropped. Many people are even demanding that the government should pay the rent of private school premises.
The administration has proposed that students be absorbed in other existing schools in Dahod. As per norms, students are offered transport allowance if they have to travel more than the prescribed distance based on their standard.