Over 5,500 govt schools in dilapidated state:minister

Primary and Secondary Education Minister N Mahesh on Thursday said that more than 5,500 government primary and secondary schools in the state were in a dilapidated condition, requiring Rs 2,581 crore for repairs.

Replying to R Dharmasena in the Legislative Council, Mahesh said while Rs 1,087 crore was required to repair primary school buildings, about Rs 1,494 crore was required to repair high school buildings.

As many as 5,588 primary schools with 10,258 classrooms and 264 high schools with 949 classrooms are in a dilapidated state, he said.

The minister conceded that the funds allocated for carrying out the repair works were insufficient.

In 2017-18, the government had spent Rs 66.04 crore to repair 760 new classrooms in 672 government primary schools and Rs 41.32 crore to fix 312 classrooms in 238 government high schools. Similarly, Rs 28.66 crore was spent to repair 1,338 primary school classrooms and Rs 35 crore to repair 777 classrooms in high schools.