PILIBHIT: It’s “freedom from floor” at last for thousands of school children in UP who until now had to sit on the ground in dilapidated classrooms or in the open under a tree for their daily lessons.

Affected teachers told TOI on Monday that this was the first time “perhaps in decades” that so many children — over 90,000 across hundreds of govt primary schools in Pilibhit district — have received desks and chairs.

The change was initiated during a task force meeting when Pilibhit DM Gyanendra Singh questioned Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Amit Kumar Singh in June about the “stark absence of furniture in classrooms”. On learning that “lack of govt funding” was the reason, the DM directed the administration to use village panchayat development funds to start procuring furniture.

“With UP govt striving to improve the educational system in primary schools across the state, lack of furniture in classrooms was severely hindering the cause. Availability of desks and chairs will certainly help in supporting the govt’s mission and act as a big boost for children’s education and future,” said the DM.

The administration, which circumvented the funding issue by using village panchayat development funds to fill up classrooms, then assigned the duty of its management to the panchayat raj department.

“Till now, 925 primary schools have received chairs and desks for students. The remaining schools will get them within a week. Furniture will cost around Rs 1 lakh per school,” the BSA added.

According to the BSA, Pilibhit district has as many as 95,532 students in govt primary schools and 66,772 students in 284 upper primary schools.