Over 7% of classrooms in schools in India require major repairs: HRD Ministry

Over seven per cent of classrooms in schools across the country require major repairs, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

In response to a question about whether the government has done any study to identify schools running from unsafe buildings across the country, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha said as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), 2016-17 (Provisional), 0.67 per cent schools are having buildings in dilapidated condition.

He said as per the UDISE, 7.73 per cent classrooms in the schools across the country require major repairs.

Kushwaha said the HRD Ministry had issued guidelines in October 2014 to all states and Union Territories for ensuring safety and security of school children, including preventive mechanisms and procedures required to be put in place in the schooling system along with relief and redressal strategies in case of any incident.

As per the CBSE Affiliation bye-laws, before grant of affiliation, a school is required to submit a certificate from the competent authority that the school building was safe.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued school safety policy guidelines which were circulated to all states and union territories in September 2017. The guidelines provide for conducting quarterly safety audits by the School Management Committee in schools, including fire and food safety.