School Buildings look like Prisons?
An article with this title in Hindustan Times caught my eye and made me think of my own school days which I wish to recount. The article showed a picture of a government school in Sangam Vihar in New Delhi built in 1992. The building’s long open verandas and arched corridors depict the architecture prevalent over a 100 years back giving it a very colonial and depressing look. The picture shows a bunch of students in the open courtyard with the caption- why do school buildings look like prisons? The way the children are trying to run away from the closed structure in addition to the design of the structure itself is making it look like a prison. The design philosophies of the school buildings reflect the prevailing pedagogic practices in vogue. Why should a building built in 1992 stick to an architecture so colonial? I changed many schools during the course of my school education owing to my father’s transferable job with the central government. I have studied in Kend...
