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| Edited By: Soumabha Nandi |Source: DNA |Updated: Sep 23, 2011, 12:25 PM IST
For three days, the faculty of the Ghorpadi-based Urdu Primary School (UPS) has been forced to teach students in the open as the authorities of the Vivekananda Primary School (SVPS) have denied permission to use their classrooms.
Both these schools are managed by the Pune Cantonment Board. Under the arrangement, the board has allotted two classrooms of SVPS for running UPS classes, which does not have its own building at present.
But to the shock of the UPS management, parents and students, the two classrooms of SVPS were found locked on September 20.
"For the past three days, we had to take classes in the verandah or the playground of SVPS since we were
denied access to the classrooms," lamented the UPS teachers.
As a mark of protest, parents sat with their children who study in UPS and attended the school on Wednesday.
The UPS was established by the PCB in 2007 following the initiative of a city-based NGO, Tanzeem Walidain Urdu Madaris (TWUM). The school has more than 100 students on its rolls.
The principal of the UPS, Rubina Khan, alleged that the authorities of SVPS management did not cite any reason for denying access to the classrooms. "They told us that they have an order from the top board officials and hence we cannot use the classrooms," said Khan.
"Our children have been subjected to inhuman treatment. This is not acceptable as they deserve education like other children too," stated Kalim Shaikh, whose nephew Tausif studies in standard IV.
The parents lamented that the local PCB corporator, Santosh Kawade, was not taking any interest in this matter.
On Thursday, the aggrieved parents, faculty members and members of the NGO met the PCB CEO, Rachel Koshy. "She told us that she is not aware of the matter and did not pass any orders denying access to students of UPS in the SVPS classrooms," Khan said.
According to the parents, the PCB CEO assured them that the matter would be taken up for discussion at the board meeting on September 26. Koshy could not be contacted despite repeated calls.
