Tura, Sep 14: Education in Garo Hills seems to have taken a back seat with rotting infrastructure and lack of teachers being at the root causes of most of the problems dogging the sector.
A recent visit to the village of Dainadubi in North Garo Hills (NGH) district revealed two such schools, almost at touching distance with each other, which have literally been left to rot with no funds being provided to upgrade the schools, despite the prevalent dilapidated condition.
The first school, the Bangsi Apal Government LP School, caters to 27 students with 4 government teachers in the place. The nearly a century-old school was established in 1926.
“The main building of the school was first destroyed in 2006 but we gathered funds ourselves to ensure it was repaired. This was done through donations and whatever funds we could manage. However, in Sep 2014, the school was completely blown away and has remained in the same condition since,” said one of the teachers.
The teacher added that numerous petitions were made to the NGH education department by the school teachers as well as NGOs seeking repairs of the school. However, despite the passage of almost a decade, not even one new brick has been laid. The school now has become the hangout of cows and goats.
“It’s extremely difficult for us as teachers to work as we are now crammed into the single SSA school room where all four of us have to teach our students. Enrolment, which was earlier very good has fallen as we cannot accommodate students in the space that is available,” informed the teacher.
The SDSEO had paid a visit to the school earlier this year and informed the teachers that a sanction had been made for the school building. However, it was later withdrawn by the department following a discrepancy in the location of the school.
“We have been in the same place for close to a century now but as to how the department could actually make such mistakes are beyond us. The result is that our children and their education have had to suffer,” he added.
The second school, Togan Memorial UP School had an even more sorry tale to tell. The school was built in 1999 and had been catering to a huge population prior to the destruction of the school building due to a cyclonic storm.
After the destruction, the affected teachers, all four of them, approached the DI of schools in NGH to seek funds for the repair of the infrastructure. However, they were informed that no funds could be provided to them as the school happens to be a government-aided school.
“The number of students began to dwindle as almost the entire structure had decayed. Finding no other option, we appealed to people to help rebuild the school. We also sacrificed a part of our own salaries and built the entire thing brick by brick. We worked as labourers as we could not afford to hire ones. The result is now in front of you,” said the headmaster of the school.
They were also assisted by the local MLA of Mendipathar, Marthon J Sangma, who provided the CGI sheets for the roof.
There is however still a long way to go as the school still does not have windows while some doors have been damaged beyond repair. In the face of the lack of support from the department, the school has continued its fight to educate the children.
“If this is how the government and the education department pay attention to education, they might as well shut shop and close all schools. It is unimaginable that in this day and age schools can be treated with such disdain and that too when the whole world is watching. It is no wonder that we lag so far behind the other parts of the state in the sphere of education and also why our state is so far behind,” stated social activist Gilsrang D Shira after the visit to the two schools.
As per recent reports, there are at least 11 schools in the Mendipathar constituency where the situation of school infrastructure is pathetic. The number could be even more except for the fact that some schools have taken these in their stride and stopped complaining. There has as usual been no response to their needs.
Education in the state and especially in Garo Hills has been hit by apathy with multiple factors ensuring that progress in education in the region remains light years behind the entire world. Unless the situation is taken seriously and with gusto, there is very little that young children can do other than hope that things will change for the better someday.