The ‘Praveshanotsavam’ this year will be a dull affair at the Government LP School at Karapparamba here. When other LP schools in the city are competing to welcome the freshers in a grand manner, the new students here will have to make do with just a few balloons and minimal decorations in one of the dilapidated classrooms in the school.
After all it is just a matter of one week before they move into the premises of the nearby Government Higher Secondary School.
There had been apprehensions about opening the 30-year-old Government LP School for the new academic year, as the school building was deemed unfit by the Engineering Wing of the Kozhikode Corporation.
The school had hardly 20 students in all the four lower primary classes in the previous academic year.
The school building has been in a dilapidated condition for a long time. The ceiling has come off from many parts of the roof.
Leakage has damaged the wooden structures. There are cracks on the walls too. Interestingly, it is one of the only two schools under the Kozhikode Corporation with enough space as prescribed in the Kerala Education Rules.
The school building stands in 1.5 acre land and has at least 12 rooms both the storeys combined. Hence, there is enough land to construct another building for the school in the compound where the present one stands.
The successive Corporation council’s have paid least attention to the school building and have not set aside any fund for its development. However, Education Standing Committee chairman of the Corporation M.Radhakrishnan blamed the condition of the school building on faulty construction, as not many buildings get so damaged usually within 30 years of construction.
The order from the Deputy Director of Education to allot space for the LP school in the high school premises came as a breather for the school authorities. However, it will take another week for the High School authorities to make space for the LP school and hence the delay in shifting. Mr.Radhakrishnan said that the Corporation planned to construct new building for the LP school in one year.
