Visakhapatnam: The lack of furniture at various examination centres and the ramshackle buildings with no proper facilities are major concerns for the upcoming SSC examinations. According to the official estimates, about 83 centres do either have partial furniture or lack complete furniture, out of the total 268 centres in Visakhapatnam district. With the HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao’s directives to provide 100 per cent furniture and all basic amenities, the district education officials are caught in last minute planning to ensure all those facilities.
About 62,568 students from the district would appear for the SSC examinations which would begin from March 21. Of them 56,756 are regular students and 5,812 private. “I don’t want to see even a single pupil writing exams sitting on the floor, in verandah or under the trees,” HRD minister directed the education officials in a video conference on Monday. In Visakhapatnam district, while 13 centres lack full furniture, 70 centres are tottering with partial furniture. The news emanating from various quarters of the state about students spotted writing their exams on the coir mats or on the rocky floors has become a common occurrence over the last few years. But this time, there is a great stress on the education officials to provide all the furniture.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, DEO M.V. Krishna Reddy informed that lack of furniture won’t affect the examination proceedings as they are ready with alternative plans. “We have submitted the detailed cost estimates of the required furniture. It takes about Rs 2.9 crore to furnish the exam centres with permanent furniture. If we hire it from private suppliers, it would cost about Rs 29 lakh for all 11 days, at an estimated cost of Rs 20 per each student.” When asked about the squads and sensitive exam centres, Mr. Reddy informed that they had formed about 13 flying squads to oversee the examination proceedings. “About 11 sensitive centres were identified in the district and exam proceedings would be recorded through closed circuit cameras and webcams in these centres,” added Mr. Reddy.
Central teams for city today:
Vizag is in race to bag national awards that will be presented by two central government departments. The Union government gives away national awards to those districts having constructed number of toilets at schools and issuing maximum number of soil health cards. To assess Vizag in these two aspects, two central government teams will be reaching the city on Wednesday.
This comes after district collector Dr N Yuvaraj during his recent visit to Delhi gave a presentation on the construction of toilets at the government schools in the district with the help of corporate companies. The central team comprising, Satsendra Rani and Amit Rai will be conducting field observation basing on the presentation given by the district collector under Swachh Vidyalaya awards.
In the soil health cards category, Guntur and East Godavari districts are also vying for the national award along with Vizag. To asses Vizag in the soil health cards category, a central team comprising Vandana Jain, Navneet Gogoi, will also be reaching city on Wednesday. Mr Yuvaraj asked the district officials to make necessary arrangements for the central teams’ visit.
