HSVP Plans International-Board School in Sector 44

GURUGRAM: The Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) has begun work on a government school in Sector 44 that it wants built to international-board standards, with a 750 sq metre swimming pool, two 800-seat auditoriums and a robotics laboratory on a five-acre campus near Ramada hotel.

The campus is being designed so that it can host curricula such as the International Baccalaureate. For now the project exists only on paper. HSVP floated a tender on September 18 to hire a technical consultant who will prepare the detailed project report (DPR), the designs, the bill of quantities and draft tender documents for construction. Bids close on October 5, and the firm that wins will have four months from its appointment to hand over the DPR.

"HSVP will prepare the international-board school. A tender has been issued for preparing the DPR and the consultant is expected to be appointed by next month," said Yogesh Kumar, sub-divisional engineer, HSVP.

Floor by floor

The draft layout runs to five storeys. The ground floor is meant to carry the swimming pool, with separate changing rooms for staff and students, along with a reception, meeting rooms, an administrative office, a conference room, offices for the director, principal and vice-principal, and classrooms for UKG children.

A cafeteria and a yoga room are planned on the first floor. The second floor gets the first 800-seat auditorium, a multipurpose hall and rooms for music and dance. The second auditorium is on the third floor, next to a library, classrooms, another dance room and the robotics lab. The fourth floor has been kept for sports.

The building brief also asks for green-building features, solar power, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, CCTV and security systems, fire-safety installations and specialised electrical work.

A different role for HSVP

So far, HSVP's part in school education in the city has mostly been to carve out institutional plots and auction them. In Sector 44 the authority is drawing up the campus, the technical specifications and the infrastructure itself before construction is put out to tender. The shift follows a change to HSVP's policy on school sites, uploaded on March 6, which added provisions for an "international board standard".

Several basic questions are still open. Officials said the construction cost, built-up area, student strength and academic programme will be fixed only after the consultant finishes the DPR. An HSVP official said the authority would build the campus, while the decision on who runs the school would be taken later by higher authorities.

International curricula in Gurugram are at present offered by private schools. How far a state-built campus opens that kind of schooling to more children will depend on the operating model and fee structure the government settles on. Neither has been announced, and the consultancy tender now under way is the first formal step.