Noida: Just Rs 14.2 crore has been sanctioned for additional classrooms, school buildings and basic amenities in govt schools across the city between 2021-22 and 2025-26, even as gaps in infrastructure persist. The pace and scale of spending also have varied sharply from year to year, data obtained by TOI from the basic education department show.The biggest tranche, Rs 9.1 crore, came only in 2025-26, allocated for 79 additional classrooms across 35 schools. In 2024-25, just Rs 1 crore was budgeted for 10 additional classrooms. In 2023-24, Rs 2.7 crore was spent on 43 additional classrooms, six handwashing units, electricity works at three schools and 18 disabled-friendly toilets.Expenditure was lower in the two years before that, at around Rs 77.6 lakh in 2022-23 for 10 additional classrooms and reconstruction of three primary school buildings, and around Rs 61.80 lakh in 2021-22 for three primary school buildings and six additional classrooms.Teachers flagged that allocations were not reaching schools quickly enough and funds for individual works were often insufficient for the scale of the requirement. In several schools, many of them in Noida, this has meant classes being held together in the same rooms, with students forced to sit on the floor. Delays in executing sanctioned works have added to the problem. At a primary school in Balla Ki Madhya, one classroom has taken over a year to build.On Tuesday, when Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) took up govt primary schools in Noida for audit under its ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign, it found unclean washrooms with broken doors at the govt primary school in Chaukhandi.Teachers also said allocations need to be viewed against the wider infrastructure requirements of schools. While UP cabinet approved Rs 300 crore for setting up smart classrooms in 14,429 primary schools across the state on Tuesday, teachers said it worked out to roughly Rs 2.1 lakh per school. Teachers said the amount was meant specifically for the smart-school component, like internet connectivity and digital learning infrastructure, and could not address more pressing needs such as additional classrooms, building repairs, toilets, electricity or drinking water.“Schools with dilapidated buildings have already been identified, but the process of constructing new buildings takes a long time, leaving children to study in inadequate conditions. Composite School Jhatta, for instance, needs urgent attention. At the same time, none of the govt schools in the district has a sweeper, despite primary schools catering to a large number of children and requiring regular cleaning and upkeep. These basic gaps need to be addressed on priority, but we don’t have funds,” Tughalpur Upper Primary School principal Praveen Sharma said.A total of 84,442 students are enrolled in 528 govt schools in the district, as per UDISE+ data, against 3,488 teachers, a ratio of around 24:1.BSA Rahul Panwar said work was being carried out in govt schools based on requirements identified on the ground. “The department conducts regular inspections to assess the condition of school buildings and basic amenities and takes up necessary works accordingly. Schools requiring urgent repairs or infrastructure upgrades are being identified and action is being taken as per priority and availability of funds,” he said.Schools fall back on CSR fundsWith govt funds flowing unevenly for half a decade and rarely fast enough, schools have often depended on corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding. Over the past five years, CSR initiatives have supported work in a much larger number of schools.According to basic education department data, the approximate value of CSR work reported by the district over five years stands at Rs 450 crore. The amount was used for the construction of new buildings in 15 schools and for repair and maintenance work in 35 schools, along with science and computer laboratories, furniture, laptops, STEM labs, solar panels, libraries, NIPUN Shala and Adharshila labs, teacher training, computer and STEM buses, and health and eye check-ups.Major CSR works were carried out at schools including Composite School Chhejarsi, Primary School Halduni, Primary School Bankapur, Primary School Bhood Basti, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in Dankaur, Primary School Mathurapur, Composite School Luksar and Upper Primary School Garhi Sahdara during this period.
