In leaking govt school in UP, students learn with umbrellas in hand

A video and photographs of students holding umbrellas inside the classroom of a government primary school in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh is being widely shared on social media.

The children can be seen with umbrellas in one hand and writing with the other in the video because the ceiling of their classroom leaks every time it rains in Banki, which is around 30 km from the state capital of Lucknow.

“As you can see the ceiling of our classroom is leaking so we have no option but to study under an umbrella. We always carry umbrellas to our classroom,” Muskan, a Class 1 student, is heard saying in the video.

It is not just the leaking roofs of the school, which has just two rooms, that has the children and their parents worried.

“Most of the time parents discourage us from going to school as the building is in a bad condition. Things are scary here. We don’t know when our school building will collapse,” Muskan says.

“Many parents want to withdraw their children from the school as the building is not safe. The leakage has also caused a drop in attendance,” their teacher, Sunita Mishra, is also heard saying in the video.

She says that they have sent a number of applications to the state education department and the civic bodies in the area but no one has responded so far.

The school gets funds under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a government programme aimed at boosting education among children in the country. And, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Uttar Pradesh earmarked ₹18,167 crore for the programme in its budget for this financial year.

The state’s basic education minister Anupama Jaiswal said it was shocking to see students sitting with an umbrella in a classroom.

“We will shift the students to some another building. We cannot compromise with the safety of our students,” Jaiswal said as she promised to seek a detailed report from her department.

Basic Shiksha Adhikari Vinay Kumar said the matter has come to his knowledge.

“I have asked the block education officer to shift the school temporarily to another building and submit a report. Funds have also been issued for the maintenance of the school,” Kumar said.