We need to build more classrooms, say schools

Updated on: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Educational institutes always welcome extra space, because they say they have many reasons to expand their buildings. Schools and colleges say that additional classroom space is always sorely needed.

The Kandivli Education Trust was recently granted additional Floor Space Index (FSI) for their already existing building, but lack of funds has kept them from making the best of the extra space. “One section of our school is aided and we don’t have the extra funds to invest in building more classrooms. At the same time, our management also wants to give the best to our students and build more classroom space for them. We are still debating over how to utilise the extra FSI to the students’ advantage,” said Sangeeta Srivastava, principal of SVP School and TPB College, which are run by the trust.

The Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) is another educational trust that got permission for extra FSI in the past few months. The trust is using this space for the Narsee Monjee Management Institute. “We only have an extra FSI of four and we are planning to build extra classrooms for the college so that more students can avail of the course,” said A Patel, one of the trustees of SVKM. “We want extra FSI for our school so that we can use some space for a playground for our students, but we still haven’t got that permission,” he added. However, the norms of the Right to Education (RTE) Act say that extra classrooms as well as playground space are important for all schools.

With RTE making playgrounds compulsory for students, schools are now realising the importance of extra space. While a lot of schools in the city lack a ground of their own, some who have this feature, are fast using them to build more buildings, claim certain educationists. “We have observed that there are a lot of schools in the city that are now constructing new buildings and, in this process, eating into the playgrounds. Students anyway have very little space for recreation between and after school hours, now they will have none left,” said the president of an NGO in the field of education.

We need to build more classrooms, say schools

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