Mumbai: Like Harry Potter and his colleagues at Hogwarts, children at the Kulgaon Badlapur Primary Municipal School bear brooms too. But for the latter, the floor brushes spell trouble instead of joyrides and wizardry. MiD DAY has visual evidence to prove that the students from classes I to VII are made to come an hour early every day to sweep the three-storey school building.
Whats shocking is that the kids have been doing this for many years, as civic authorities claim there are few sweepers in the Badlapur area, and none appointed for municipal schools. The building houses two primary schools " the one from Manjarli area caters to 38 students and is run from the top floor, while the other from Belavli has 162 students and is run on the ground and first floors. Aarti, one of the more senior students from the school, said, Kids come in an hour before the school starts when its their turn to sweep their classroom and the balcony on their floor.
Kiran Rathod, a class IV student from the school, who we found opening the buildings gates early in the morning, said, We arrive an hour before our scheduled time. One of the students has the keys so we can enter and start our job. Our teachers have asked us to do this. Students take turns in groups of twos and threes. The names are decided a day before.
Echoing the sentiments of Rathod, Vicky Chavan, a younger
04:30 PM, Jul 26, 2012
