In what could be a short in the arm of elementary education in the city, all the 147 municipal schools are in for an upgrade to transform them into ‘smart’ campuses.
With Municipal Commissioner G. Srijana at the helm of the affairs, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is now planning big in this direction.
“It is the right of every child, irrespective of the socio-economic strata, to have facilities for quality education in a good environment. And this is among the primary focus areas of the civic body now,” Ms. Srijana told The Hindu.
The GVMC is among the three municipal corporations in India to win the ‘Smart City Challenge’ and it is now eligible for a funding of ₹65 crore from the Department for International Development (DFID), the U.K. and the European Union (EU).
“More than 7,000 students are pursuing education in 147 municipal schools under the GVMC jurisdiction. We will utilise the funds to build infrastructure on par with any corporate school,” Ms. Srijana said.
Plans are afoot to set up e-classrooms with audio-visual aids, books, computers and facility for sports, apart from ensuring toilets, additional classrooms, boundary walls, furniture and fittings.
The GVMC has already upgraded six schools as part of the Area Based Development (ABD) programme of the ‘Smart City’ project.
A host of features matching that of corporate schools have been provided at GVMC Primary School (II) at China Waltair, KDPM High School in East Point Colony, Jalaripeta Primary School and China Waltair Primary School (II). “We want all 147 schools have same facilities. The DFID and EU funding will help us accomplish the goal. If we fall short of funds, we shall approach the corporate houses to fund as part of CSR programme,” Mr. Srijana said.
Drive against illegal structure to continue
The GVMC has identified around 2,000 buildings erected in violation of the norms of Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) and the special drive against the illegal structure will continue, Municipal Commissioner G. Srijana has said.
“The owners regularise the structure or face the demolition squad,” she said, adding that acting suo motu, the civic body has demolished around 150 buildings so far.
Waste management
Listing out her priorities, Ms. Srijana said liquid waste management is another area of concern. “On a daily basis, about 200 mld of liquid waste is generated in the city. After treatment, if we can make at least 100 mld reusable, it will be a great achievement,” she said.
Referring to the solid waste, she admitted that there were some lacunae on the segregation front. “The door collection of garbage is happening, but the desired result is yet to be achieved when it comes to its segregation. There are some issues pertaining to collection discipline and time schedule on our side and some setbacks on the citizen front. We are planning an elaborate awareness campaign to set the things right,” Ms. Srijana said.
The civic chief further said that the total solid waste generation had been put at around 900 mt per day and once the waste-to-energy plant proposed at Kapuluppada took off, things would fall in place.
