By Biplab Kr Dey
TURA, Nov 4: There is a saying that a tree’s strength can only be known by the extent of its roots – the deeper the root, the stronger the tree. The same goes with education as well. However given the present situation of primary and secondary education in the Garo Hills region, education cannot be said to be deeply rooted in the wildest sense of the word.
Take a look at the numbers to see how badly Garo Hills fares in primary and secondary education. The state has been recording a pass percentage of 60 in the SSLC examinations. That number would have been much higher if Garo Hills had pitched in and done its part. With a pass percentage of close to 30, Garo Hills actually brings down the numbers drastically.
While many will blame the student and teaching community for the mess that education is in, the facts imply a multitude of factors responsible.
The first thing of note has to be the present educational infrastructure in the Garo Hills region. The situation has not improved despite efforts, mostly half hearted, by subsequent governments in the state. Hundreds of primary schools in the region lie in shambles with literally no repairs being undertaken, some for many decades. With the region being prone to rough weather for at least six months in a year, its impact has been felt by students, teachers as well as the community.
“Most of the infrastructure, primarily in the rural belt has been in abject state. In recent years cyclonic storms have been frequent and with most school buildings in already poor condition, the impact of weather has been extreme,” said activist Maxbirth Momin from Tura.
Most states in the country, including those in the Northeastern region have moved on to RCC buildings for schools in both the primary and secondary sections to counter the weather situation. However in Garo Hills and in some parts of Khasi Hills, many school buildings continue to have tin roofs, that almost always get blown away in inclement weather.
There seems a sense of helplessness amongst the teaching community when it comes to matters of infrastructure in Garo Hills as there is hardly any contingency money for school repairs, something that is kept on an annual basis in other states.
Take the example of Assam, or more specifically a nondescript government LP school in the district of Nagaon to show the importance the neighbouring state has given to education.
“Every year, we are provided Rs 50,000 as annual grant. This can be used to repair any small damage to the school or for material that are required. If the extent of damage is greater, we have to inform the district authorities and within a short time, funds are granted to ensure the school is spick and span,” informed the headmaster of that school.
The headmaster also added that every year Rs 5,000 is provided for Eco and Youth Club and Rs 5,000 for sports. Electricity is free as are uniforms and school books. The school also gets a free supply of fire extinguishers, has a working library and a RO water system for the children as well as a first-aid kit in case of emergencies. All of this is provided completely free by the Assam government.
There are also uniform grants, sports funds, grants for books along with the mid-day meal that has become a routine. The headmaster further added that the contingency funds in the school account have accumulated to over Rs 10 lakh and will be used in case of an emergency.
“This is the situation of all schools in Assam as the grants are distributed equally. Salaries too are deposited on the same day every month. There are regular visits by inspectors on a monthly basis to ensure compliance to educational standards,” he added.
The difference cannot be starker between neighbouring Assam and Meghalaya, especially Garo Hills.
In Meghalaya, literally no government school has contingency funds to use for emergencies. While books and uniforms are provided in SSA schools, the rest has to be procured by the student. In government LP schools, nothing, other than education is free.
Further, visits by inspectors to schools are so rare that schools literally wait in anticipation in case one does take place. The inspector then becomes a celebrity.
The reasons for such rare visits are not hard to fathom.
“Topographically our situation is different from Assam. Our schools in the rural belt fall in some of the most remote parts of the region, some of which requires travel using 4WD vehicles, something that we don’t have access to,” informed a highly placed official of the Education department.
Interestingly there are no vehicles provided by the Education department of the state for inspection to schools which means that any visit for inspection has to be borne out of the pocket of the department officials.
“None of the districts have been provided with any vehicles for travel. How do we go to places where even walking becomes difficult? Is it fair for us to be using our private vehicles for such inspections? Most of the schools we inspect are close to where our offices are as logistically it is impossible for us to inspect remote areas without burning a hole through our pockets,” added the official.
He added that despite them getting a huge number of reports from various schools of infrastructure issues, they are helpless.
“There are so many schools that are in urgent need of repair. We have been continually updating the requirements to the education authorities in the state to no avail. Further all construction and repair currently come under the district’s DRDA, which means despite our best wishes, there is literally nothing we can do to help these schools with infrastructure issues,” added another official from South Garo Hills.
The plight of students and teachers can be understood from the fact that many schools shut down during the rains as there is no roof or doors or windows. Even benches are a rarity in some schools.
Many villages have taken to repairing their local schools just for the sake of their children’s education. This repair is voluntarily undertaken by the villagers and sometimes by the teachers themselves.
“We have submitted several complaints and requests to the school authorities to take up repairs after our school was damaged due to a cyclonic storm many years ago. After waiting for years and seeing the hapless faces of our children, we decided there was no point in waiting for the state to undertake repairs. We did it ourselves so that the education of our children remained unaffected,” said a villager near Jengjal.
The recent case of Jewilgre is another such point. The village too had waited for years for their school to be repaired but gave up hope after repeated tries. They then approached the district administration of SWGH and took up repair through MGNREGS, their own job card money.
“There are many such instances that can be cited and the situation remains the same for those affected. Many schools have been forced to declare holidays due to rainy days as there is no roof over their heads, some for over a decade. Our district is the worst affected due to its remoteness. We can cite hundreds of such schools with battered infrastructure that need immediate attention but what’s the point as repairs are rare unless taken up by the community,” added social activist Greneth Sangma.
Sangma has been extremely vocal of the poor education scenario in his district.
“What is damning is the fact that all of these are government schools, be it LP, UP or secondary ones. Subsequent governments in our state have failed to ensure that educational infrastructure is taken care of. It seems there is a lack of seriousness over how to tackle such issues but can we as residents continue keeping silent on such an important matter?” he asked.
A well known educationist from Tura, Tyrone D’Brass reflected on the situation in Garo Hills and felt there was a lack of will to improve the education sector in the region.
“It seems a deliberate ploy to keep Garo Hills in the dark ages. There can’t be any other explanation for what is taking place. Unless governments get serious and act on the situation, nothing will change. Education has to be actually prioritised for results in Garo Hills to get better in the coming future otherwise we are in for the long haul and similar results,” said D’Brass.