The future of a government-aided school gets shrouded with doubts in Hoshiarpur. The school has been serving for over 130 years and was attended by hundreds of students coming from humble circumstances.
Consultation among several departments of government proposed that an Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (AFPI) should be given precedence.
The Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand (SBAC) Senior Secondary School Bajwara is run by SBAC Society and Trust, Bajwara, currently. It is located on14 acres of land granted by former Union Cabinet Minister Ambika Soni and her family.
School has more than a dozen classrooms, science labs, computer labs, library, seminar hall, and an NSS room. As much as 95% of funds are granted by the government of Punjab at the moment. Though being historic, the school building is still in good shape and houses scores of trees for beautification.
Concerned authorities are of the opinion that school should not be shut down. Still, parents are worried because their children from grade 6 to grade 12 would suffer a great deal since they would be shifted to various government-run or government-aided schools situated far away.
Arguments favoring government-aided school
A great deal of restlessness has bestowed on the teachers and students whose destiny is under question. They are majorly concerned with the relocation of this government-aided school which is expected to be in a far place.
A teacher said, that they are all praise for the efforts made by the government still, the success achieved at the cost of these poor students would do more harm than good.
She further added that the strength of government-run schools is increasing whereas, the strength of SBAC was cut down to 576 students from a total of 835 in 2016-2017 which was already a matter for concern.
An alumni Sakshi asserted that such state-of-the-art school for poor students is already a rarity and that while they are happy for the academy, still they feel sorry for the humble students whose future is covered by a great deal of uncertainty. She also said that poor students should not be deprived of their institution at any cost.
