More than 60% seats lying vacant in school hostels

The trend,which was seen among college and university students till some years ago,has now caught up with school students too. While this trend has been witnessed more among senior students,the number of students opting for school hostels as well as schools providing it for junior classes is already negligible. Surprisingly,there are no hostel facilities at any of the girls’ schools and even among co-education ones,the majority are boys’ hostels.

“The prominence of paying guest facilities in the tricity has overtaken the applications for hostel facilities in schools. Earlier,schools used to receive students from all the neighbouring states including Jammu and Kashmir but the number has been declining every year. This year we have more than 130 seats lying vacant as only 70 have been filled. This number has declined by 30 compared to the previous year”,said,Gurnam Kaur Grewal,Principal of Guru Nanak Dev Public School,Sector 36.

Hostel fees in city schools vary from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh a year,including all facilities from uniforms to even coaching offered by a few. While the paying guest facility is offered at a range of Rs 4000-8000 per month,this can go higher depending on the benefits,conditions and number of students sharing each room. This includes accommodation and food only. To cater to the demands,paying guests also take care of security which is a major concern of the parents.

Similar views were expressed by the Principal of DAV Model School,Sector 15,Rakesh Sachdeva. “In the last two-three years,the demand for hostel facilities has declined considerably. Normally,the number of applications the school received for hostels would exceed the total number of seats available,” he said. “Of all the 90 seats provided by the school within the campus,this year for the first time 10 seats are vacant. This is attributed to a number of paying guest facilities offered in the surrounding sectors. Despite the fact that the school provides coaching in three subjects to hostel residents,there are few takers for it,” Sachdeva added. Yadvindra Public School,Mohali,too provides hostel facilities but for boys only,with a total number of 130 seats. It is for classes IV to XII. The school authorities said that there is demand for hostel but with a decline in numbers. New Public School,Sector 18,has a hostel within the campus that shares a similar picture. The total number of seats is 120 that did not get filled this year. “The kind of facilities from wi-fi to air conditioners and freedom that students enjoy in paying guests is restricted in hostels. Also students of senior classes who take hostels vacate them after six months and shift to paying guest houses,” said Principal R D Singh.