Research conducted by an NGO, the Sadbhav Mission, has revealed that the residents of Juhapura are deprived of their right to education because of the inadequate availability of government schools in the area.
Though Juhapura has a population of around 2.5 lakh, with 6,000 added to this figure every year, there are only four government primary schools and not a single government high school in the area, said Vipin Tripathi, a representative of the Sadbhav Mission.
The research, which was headed by Tripathi, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, highlighted the fact that the four government primary schools in Juhapura are able to accommodate only 10 per cent of the children in class I, while there are only four classrooms for every 818 students.
“Because of a lack of classrooms, instances of students of different classes sitting in the same room are very common. While the schools conduct two shifts in order to accommodate all the students, classes are also held on the school verandas,” Tripathi said.
“There is a serious problem of a lack of space. The schools are unable to accommodate all the students. Though around 6,000 children are born in Juhapura annually, there are not enough schools to accommodate them in the secondary and higher-secondary levels.
Taking all the higher-secondary schools in the area into consideration, only around 500 children can be accommodated in class XII in a year,” said vice-principal of RJ Tibrewal Commerce College, Maherunnisa M Desai, who assisted in the research.
In addition to the research study, the Sadbhav Mission has been making an attempt to increase the intake in primary and high schools, and has been trying to implement the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for minorities. “In the course of our research and enquiries, we found that the provisions of the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme have been adopted by more than 20 states of India, but not by Gujarat,” Tripathi said.
“When we enquired at the Centre, we learnt that the other states have adopted the scheme as they are satisfied with the 75 per cent funding of the scheme by the Centre. However, the Gujarat government wants 100 per cent funding from the Centre,” he said.
