Phagwara: Students and teachers of a girls` school here have taken it upon themselves to collect funds for the renovation of their school building, part of which had been declared unsafe by the Public Works Department.
Out of 25 rooms of Government Senior Secondary School for Girls, 18 had been declared unsafe by the PWD, school sources said today, adding one room had collapsed in February and the parapet of another had crumbled sometime ago.
The school authorities gave representation to the government and some political outfits even held protests seeking immediate renovation of the school, but to no avail.
Students and staff members of the school have now started contributing and collecting money for construction of a room.
"The students have contributed from their `golaks` (piggy banks) and pocket money... They will themselves be laying the foundation stone tomorrow," school principal Nirmal Singh said, adding "the staff members were also separately contributing for construction of another room".
Hearing this, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Santosh Chowdhary yesterday visited the school and interacted with students and teachers.
She announced to contribute Rs 10 lakh for construction of two more rooms.
The school is 70 years` old and has nearly 1,000 students.
