The students of Government run primary and upper primary schools of Sundargarh district will get benches and desks in their schools from coming academic session.
As many as 2,700 Government run primary and upper primary schools of the district will be benefited by a recent initiative of the Government to provide the furniture.
District Education Officer (DEO) Ranjan Kumar Giri in a letter dated November 19 has asked all blocks of Sundargarh district to submit a detailed list of students of all the Government schools (from Class I to Class X) of their area in order to provide the furniture for the schools. Giri asked the school authorities to submit the list by November 23.
All the students of primary and upper primary schools (Class I to Class VII) are sitting on floor whereas in some high schools, there are desks and benches. “As per the direction of the Collector, Sundargarh, I have asked for a detailed list from the schools of all
blocks of our district and accordingly, requirement of desk bench would be decided,” said DEO Giri.
Sources said the Sundargarh unit of Odisha Primary Teachers Association had raised a demand for desks and benches for the students of all Government schools recently in presence of School and Mass Education
Minister Samir Dash, during a conference in Sundargarh. The association had argued that the students of the Government schools are developing an inferiority complex among themselves, particularly when the students of private schools are availing better facilities.
“We welcome the initiatives taken by Sundargarh Collector to provide desk and bench to all Government schools,” said Sundargarh Primary Teacher’s Association general secretary Gobinda Chandra Suar.