Guwahati, June 26: Students in 4,870 government schools in 10 districts of Assam have been attending classes in unsafe buildings.

A recent assessment of safety features in the structural design of 16,524 government schools in 10 districts of the state done by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan revealed that 4,870 (29 per cent) school buildings do not conform to the safety norms required to withstand natural calamities such as earthquakes.

These 10 districts are Barpeta, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Kamrup (metro), Morigaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia.

"These schools did not meet the safety norms prescribed in the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan framework," an official source said.

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which has been operational since 2000-2001, is a flagship programme of the Centre for achievement of Universalisation of Elementary Education in a time-bound manner by providing free and compulsory education to children between 6 and 14 years.

The Abhiyan is being implemented in partnership with the state governments to cover the entire country.

In Assam, a significant number of children are being imparted education in unsafe school buildings. A majority of these buildings have become unsafe over the years because of lack of maintenance.

It is a matter of concern since Assam falls under zone five - the highest seismic zone in the country and also faces floods every year.

Rule 6.4.7 of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan's framework for implementation provides that school buildings should incorporate safety features for resistance against hazards to ensure that children receive education in a safe and secure environment.

The rule adds that structural safety features to withstand natural hazards such as earthquakes should be built into the designs of new school buildings and existing school buildings should be retrofitted.

The source said most of the schools not fulfilling the safety norms were old buildings that require repair and renovation.

He said the Sarba Siksha Abhijan, Assam, will take necessary technical measures in consultation with experts and state PWD to make these school buildings safe and secure.

There are constraints for providing earthquake resistant structures in every government school, he added.

"It is not always possible to provide the seismic resistant features in existing old structures as there is no provision for retrofitting. Moreover, because of limitations of space and design posed by the existing old structures, it becomes difficult the required seismic resistant features to such structures," he said.

The source said another problem plaguing the education in the state was a large number of government schools did not have any teacher or was functioning with only a single teacher.

As a result, the students of those schools were deprived of proper education.

"For instance, in Karbi Anglong district, there are many lower primary schools without any teacher," he said.

"Although, according to the Right to Education Act, 2009, there should be at least two teachers per lower primary school and three teachers per upper primary school, as on March 2016 there were 1,097 schools in Assam, which were imparting education through the services of a single teacher," the source said.