Rajasthan High Court bans use of 86,000 dilapidated classrooms in govt schools

JAIPUR: In a significant order, the Rajasthan High Court has barred the use of more than 86,000 dilapidated classrooms in government schools across the state, directing that the rooms be locked and children not be allowed to enter them.

A bench of Justices Mahendra Kumar Goyal and Ashok Kumar Jain passed the order on Friday in the wake of a government survey conducted in the aftermath of the Jhalawar school roof collapse incident in July in which seven students died and eight were injured.

According to the report, Rajasthan has 63,018 government schools with 5,26,162 classrooms. Of these, 86,934 were found to be completely dilapidated.

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The survey further showed that 5,667 schools were entirely unsafe for use. In terms of toilets, 17,109 were marked as dilapidated while 29,093 were repairable. The court also asked the state to make suitable alternative arrangements so that studies of affected students are not hampered.

The findings are part of a preliminary survey conducted by teachers following the Jhalawar school tragedy. In another incident days later, one student died and two others were injured when the main gate of a school collapsed in Jaisalmer. The court has now sought a technical verification report from engineers, with the matter listed for September 4.