One may soon not be able to tell a government school from a government office in our neighbourhood. All 82 schools in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation area about to be painted blue and white, the Trinamul Congress government’s combination of choice.

A total of Rs 9.5 crore has been released under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) for painting the exteriors of government-sponsored and aided schools across North 24-Parganas, according to district SSA sources. This is part of the Rs 150 crore that will be spent for exterior cement coating and painting of schools across the state out of the existing budgetary allocation of the school education department.

An estimated cost of Rs 30.57 per sq m of surface area has been approved for the project. “Schools have been asked to submit an estimate vetted by a government engineer from the school education department or the corporation to the district project officer, SSA. After approval, the schools will get the painting done and get the bill reimbursed by the SSA,” said Rajesh Chirimar, mayoral council member in charge of education at the Corporation. “We have informed all boroughs. Initially the deadline for finishing the job was March 23. But some schools have examinations going on. So the deadline has been relaxed a bit,” he added.

Schools built within the last five years or painted in the last three years have been exempted from the scheme. “Estimates have been submitted on behalf of half the schools to the district magistrate. Work will begin by Poila Baisakh,” Chirimar said.

Crying for repairs

While the paint job — and the exterior patchwork that will be an automatic part of it — is welcome, many schools are in desperate need of more intensive renovation. Most of these schools are almost 40 years old and had last been repaired in the 1980s.

Laban Hrad Vidyapith for Boys in AD Block has leaking roofs, moth-eaten door frames and broken window panes. “The condition is so bad that during monsoon, teachers and students get wet from water seeping through the ceiling. The old wires are dysfunctional, the floors are cracked, walls chipped and we’ve had to shut down an entire wing in our building as the ceiling there could come crashing down any minute,” says teacher-in-charge Dibyendu Bakshi.

“Sometime back, Rs 14 lakh was sanctioned for the school under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. We used the money to renovate three rooms but there are still six to eight classrooms that cannot be used,” Bakshi said.

The roof of a balcony in Bidhannagar Government High School actually did collapse some months back (it happened after school so no one was hurt). “After that funds worth Rs 1.22 crore were sanctioned on an emergency basis. We are building a new wing with that,” said assistant headmaster Tarapada Santra.

The BD Block school needs major electrification, floor and roof work now. “We have submitted an estimate of Rs 23 lakh for electrification alone to the district magistrate,” he said.

At AG Block Primary School the gates have rusted away. “It’s become a security concern. Outsiders walk in and out of our compound all day, using our field as a thoroughfare. After hours people come in for adda. Our stairs have chipped off, walls are damp and the roof needs urgent repairs,” said teacher-in-charge Sangita Sinha Bose.

Inputs from Sudeshna Banerjee

Should there be a colour code for government school buildings?

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