Construction over edn: How more than 80 kids were short-changed by state

RONGJENG, Sep 16: For Baringre Nengsil and Gabil Nengtek, two villages that share a same government school, education has been a far-fetched dream that is eons away from fruition with close to 65 students having nothing to get education from. What is even more damning is the fact that despite the school being non-functional for nearly seven years, a new building with seven rooms for students and teachers alike has recently been constructed despite there being no teacher!
Getting to Baringre Nengsil required a walk of over three km from the road near Rangbang, about 10 kms from Rongjeng, the nearest town.
The road connecting the village is yet to be taken up with only job card holders ensuring a road that can be traversed. However, during monsoons, only motorcycles and 4WD semi-trucks can make the arduous journey.
The situation is also faced by at least 15-20 children who make the daily 6 km to-and-fro journey to the nearest school in Rangbang. For the rest, education has become a pipe dream.
The total population of the two villages is close to 400 from about 55 households that dot the firmament. The village falls under the Rongjeng C&RD Block and also its constituency.
Reaching the village with its beautiful landscape, one thing that strikes you is the absolute lack of shops of any kind. The villagers on a daily basis travel multiple journeys to get what they need for their livelihood, with the rest being grown within their lands. The primary source of income is betel nuts, rubber and farming.
According to the president of the school committee, since the past decade, there have been two spells of over three years each when there were no teachers to teach their children.
In between, after fervent requests from the villagers, two contractual teachers were posted for about two years. However, that spell got over when the state decided to do away with contractual teaching posts. Since then, most of the children have had ample time to while away their lives, doing nothing.
“We have gone to the nearby private school as there was no teacher in our village school. If a teacher is appointed we will definitely be back,” said a seven-year-old from the village, who is amongst the more fortunate ones.
As per the villagers, when they approached the district education authorities, including the DI, everyone just put their hands up. The local representative too shook his head but promised to work on delivering a teacher.
“The DI, in fact, didn’t even know that our villages existed. We have been haranguing him to provide teachers to our school but he claimed that nothing was in his hands. The story was similar with everyone we met,” said the school president, Jonasen M Sangma.
He added that during the entire time, most of the children from the school have been without education or mid-day meals as their parents could not afford the fees in nearby private schools as well as the arduous journey the children needed to undertake on an everyday basis.
“Most of us live hand to mouth as our village is remote. We approached the PWD authorities to help set up a road but they claimed that we did not have the numbers for a PMGSY road. Since we are insignificant in terms of voting numbers, we have been left to fend for ourselves,” added the president.
What is striking about the school, however, has been the recently constructed section as if to mock the situation faced by the two villages. The new section consists of at least seven rooms presumably at the cost of close to Rs 30 lakh. As per sources, the construction of the new building was undertaken through the East Garo Hills District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).
“What are we supposed to do with a new building when there is no one to teach our children or use the facilities? Everyone is aware that there are no teachers in the school so why provide a new building instead of teachers,” said another villager.
Social activist Tuesbrial Marak felt the irony of the situation was not something to laugh about while adding that it provided a clue to where the priorities of the government towards education lay. “It is really ironic that, despite the entire administration, Education department, the contractors as well as the government knowing that there is no teacher, they still went ahead with creating a new building. This just shows how well the government has prioritised education in Garo Hills. It is so disheartening to see that children are being left without an education despite their basic right to an education,” he stated.
He felt that the enrolment within the school would have gone beyond 100 if the departments concerned had got their priorities straight.
“The Right to Education is a basic right as per the RTE Act. Can the government continue denying this right to us? This is not the only school without a teacher and if they (government) don’t understand this. Maybe it is time to drag them to court so that children can be compensated for the losses they are suffering in the light of a lack of education. Can anyone of these children’s formative years be brought back,” he asked. The Baringre Nengsil Government LP School is a school that is the responsibility of the state and its Education department. However, like many nearby schools, it too has suffered the neglect of an insipid government.
“Where do we go from here? All the doors that we have knocked on have actually knocked us back. Do our children not deserve an education or have we become the enemies of the state? Neither can our situation be changed overnight nor can our children get back what is already lost. Our only hope is that the government and the department take their work seriously and send teachers to our school. We can only look forward to that,” said a visibly emotional president, Jonasen M Sangma.