TURA: The fact that much of primary education in Garo Hills is in disarray is passé. Perhaps tasked with the responsibility of redeeming it, the deputy commissioner of West Garo Hills has hit upon an out of the box idea.
Rather than issuing directives or indulging in official parlance, Ram Singh has taken it as a personal endeavour to be a first hand witness to the functioning of schools, particularly those in the rural areas.
Paying a visit to half a dozen schools each day for the past week, Singh made an attempt to gauge the magnitude of the problem on his own.
The lack of basic infrastructure in the schools to the stark absenteeism frequent in schools explained it all.
While many primary schools located in the rural areas experienced a high percentage of absentees among students, nearer home it was a different story.
A visit to the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Tura, on Wednesday, found the deputy commissioner in a class packed with students and no teacher to attend to them.
“The students of the higher secondary section were in class for their lesson but none of the teachers had come to school,” a surprised deputy commissioner said.
The principal of the school has since issued a show cause notice to all the teachers who failed to turn up for work.
Back in the primary school level, it became obvious during an interaction with some of the young minds that a lot more needed to be done to boost the preparedness of students in certain core subjects.
The inability of students in reciting multiplication tables coupled with their abysmal lack of general awareness was identified as major handicaps that needed a strong remedy.
To address the issue, the deputy commissioner will convene a meeting of the block and community coordinators, who are tasked with mobilising students into schools, on May 23 in a bid to overhaul the system.
“We will discuss with the coordinators how to go about the problem and try and find a lasting solution,” said Ram Singh.
His hectic schedule notwithstanding the deputy commissioner later queued up with students of a primary school for the midday meal and shared the same with them.
On a positive note, the deputy commissioner did have a word of praise for the simple meal consisting of rice, dal with potatoes and soya nuggets curry relishing every moment of it in the company of the students.
