PMC to start infra works to convert 75 civic schools into Aadarsh Shalas

Pune: The civic body will soon commence infrastructure works at 75 municipal schools identified under the Model Schools (Aadarsh Shala) project, for which zone-wise tenders were published recently.Initially, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had decided to invite a single tender to cover all civil and electrical works. However, corporators from across political parties objected, leading to the administration revising its decision. The civic body then opted to divide the work into separate tenders.Senior PMC official Bipin Shinde said, “The objective is to increase student enrolment in municipal schools and also provide quality educational facilities. The infrastructure augmentation has been planned accordingly.”The project has a number of initiatives in the pipeline. It includes adequate lighting in classrooms, attractive and educational wall paintings, quality seating arrangements, clean drinking water facilities, toilets, equipment required for online education and other related works.The civic body has around 180 municipal school buildings within its jurisdiction, including those in merged areas. The civic education department runs 250 schools with 1 lakh students and 1,800 teachers. The institutes impart education in various mediums, including Marathi, English, Urdu and Kannada. Students from socially and financially weaker sections are a major part of these schools.Meanwhile, education experts said infrastructure augmentation was a good sign, but the administration must focus on improving the quality of education too. Issues such as non-availability of trained staff and principals should be addressed on priority.“Well-trained teaching staff is essential. Additionally, many civic school buildings are in a dilapidated condition. PMC should complete the school infrastructure works at the earliest,” said Deepali Sardeshmukh of the Association for Welfare in Education.“Many schools in merged areas have been facing infrastructure problems. The idea of model schools is good. However, the PMC should ensure that all schools receive basic facilities first. The civic education system will send a wrong message to the society, if there are only a handful of properly built schools, while the remaining are in poor condition,” said a teacher of a school in the merged areas.