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Friday, September 23, 2011

23 school buildings totally damaged, 192 partially


SAFE GOVT SCHOOLS LIKELY TO RESUME CLASSES FROM TODAY
GANGTOK, 22 Sept: With 23 government schools across the State completely damaged and more than 192 school buildings with damage in varying degrees, none of them could resume classes today as earlier proposed. Those schools with buildings spared major damage by the earthquake are expected to resume classes from Friday onwards, informed HRDD Minister NK Pradhan today.
The Sunday earthquake has been exceptionally severe on school buildings and the Department, the Minister informed, has deputed officials across the State, especially to schools which cannot resume classes in their present conditions.

These officials, Mr. Pradhan informed, have been tasked to find alternate accommodations for classes to resume in these affected schools.


The status of some schools in Gangtok is as follows:
Holy Cross to resume classes in shifts from Monday
Holy Cross School, 6th Mile, Tadong could not resume classes today because its three-storied, 20-roomed Primary and Lower Primary school buildings have been declared unsafe following an inspection by the DC [East], HRDD engineers and ward councilor after the Sunday earthquake.
Principal, Sister Jessy Mathew, informs that the school will resume full-fledged classes from Monday. With one building unavailable, classes will be held in shifts.
She informs that Classes LKG to V will have their classes in the morning shift from 7.30 to 10.40 a.m. and Classes VI to XII will have classes from 10.45 to 3.30 p.m. The school has a strength of 1,700 students.
The school has called students and their parents on Friday to inform them about the new schedule, where they will also hold a prayer function for the Earthquake victims, the Principal informs.


Tadong SSS to hold classes in shifts as well
Tadong Government Senior Secondary School, having a strength of 1,800 students, will be holding classes in two shifts from Monday as one of the school buildings [a 3-storied, 9-roomed structure accommodating 300 students] was declared unsafe by HRDD engineers. The school was visited by the area MLA DB Thapa.
According to the Principal, Doma Lhamu Zimba, the boundary wall and entrance gate of the school which have become unstable will be dismantled by Sunday evening. She informed that students from Classes I to V will have their classes in the morning shift from 7 to 11 a.m. and Classes VI to XII will have their studies from 11.10 a.m. to 4.30 pm.


Deorali Girls School declared safe, but staff and students hesitant
Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Deorali, finds itself in a dilemma. The Block IV building which houses the auditorium and junior school classrooms has developed several cracks on the floor. Though NOW! was unable to meet the Principal, a non-teaching staff of the school informed that the HRDD engineers declared the building safe but the school management and the students are hesitant to return to this building.
The decision, as of now, will be taken when students and teachers meet on Friday morning.


Baha’I School to resume Friday
Baha’i School here at Tadong is all set to resume classes from Friday. The worst hit section of the school campus was its Hostel which houses 85 students [25 of them victims of the 2004 Tsunami from Tamil Nadu].
Teachers here inform that the management has shifted the hostel to a safer block and classes will be resumed from Friday as classrooms were declared safe by officials of the Urban Development and Housing Deaprtment who visited the school this afternoon.


Katuk remains uncertain
It remains a doubtful situation for Katuk Vidhyasagar Primary School of Lingdum on whether classes can resume from Monday or not. With all the classrooms of the school substantially damaged, the only way for classes to resume will be for temporary sheds to be in place by Sunday.
According to the teachers at the school, all the three school buildings [two ekra houses and a 4-roomed-two-storied RCC building] have been declared unsafe for further use by the Area MLA, Menlom Lepcha, HRDD officials and also by the BDO Ranka, who visited the school yesterday.
As per the school staff, the BDO has supplied six tarpaulins and the management has a meeting for parents on Saturday to construct temporary sheds on Sunday. If they managed to construct these sheds by Sunday, the classes will be resumed by Monday. 

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