Unused sewing machines turn junk, DEO seeks probe

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, March 22

The district Education Department has taken up the issue of unused sewing machines and books found dumped in one of their rooms with the higher authorities. While the cost of these machines and other items found in a locked room here is reported to be over Rs 5 lakh, these have now turned junk.

Were procured for girl students

• Around 50 sewing machines and 1,200 books were found in one of the rooms of the Faridabad District Education Officer
• hese sewing machines are reported to have been procured in 2001-02 by the department to be distributed among girl students or to be used for their training, said sources
• They said the machines had, however, been dumped and were never used or given to students

Around 50 sewing machines, some of them motorised, and as many as 1,200 books were found in one of the rooms of the District Education Officer. These sewing machines are reported to have been purchased or procured in 2001-02 by the department to be distributed among girl students or to be used for their training, said sources. They said the machines had, however, been dumped and were never used or given to students.

Rani Chaudhary, a retired government schoolteacher, said these machines might have been procured for a hands-on training of girl students of Classes XI and XII. She said a sewing machine training course of short duration was part of the curriculum of the home science course a couple of decades ago. She said this course had come to an end after the retirement of teachers and with no further recruitment of faculty since 2001-03, the machines became useless.

Admitting to the recovery of sewing machines that have turned junk, District Education Officer Ritu Chowdhary said these were found during a routine check of some of the rooms that had been lying closed for many years at her office. Besides these, she said some items related to laboratories had also been found. She said while a detailed report of such items was being prepared, she had written to the higher authorities for a comprehensive inquiry into it, so that wastage of this kind could be curbed.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/3sf3KQ2