In a landmark order aimed at ensuring student safety, the Rajasthan High Court has barred the use of over 86,000 dilapidated classrooms in government schools across the state. The court directed that such classrooms be locked immediately and no child be allowed to enter them.
A division bench comprising Justices Mahendra Kumar Goyal and Ashok Kumar Jain passed the order on Friday, acting on the basis of a government survey conducted after the Jhalawar school roof collapse in July that claimed the lives of seven students and left eight others injured.
According to the state government’s preliminary survey, Rajasthan has 63,018 government schools with 5,26,162 classrooms, of which 86,934 were declared completely unsafe. Alarmingly, 5,667 schools were found to be entirely unfit for use. The report also flagged the condition of sanitation facilities, noting that 17,109 toilets were in a dilapidated state, while another 29,093 required urgent repairs.
The survey was carried out by teachers in the aftermath of the Jhalawar tragedy. Just days later, another fatal incident occurred when the main gate of a school collapsed in Jaisalmer, killing one student and injuring two others.
The bench emphasised that the safety of schoolchildren cannot be compromised and instructed the state government to arrange suitable alternatives so that the education of affected students does not suffer. It further directed that a technical verification report by engineers be submitted, with the matter scheduled for hearing on September 4.
