Mangsang Chronicles: Part 1 of 3
Mangsang, June 19: A lot has been said about education in the Garo Hills region with the region lagging miles behind Khasi and Jaintia Hills. As has been witnessed since decades of history, pass percentages in the Garo Hills region hovered around 30% with this year being the sole exception to the tale.
The recent survey that pitted Meghalaya at the fag end of the education matrix across the country – a spot that Meghalaya has literally made its own, shows education, despite the temporary glamour that this year’s SSLC results provided, is closer to the doldrums than most would like to admit to.
A recent visit to the village of Mangsang to inspect conditions of some of the schools in the area showed just how deep the malaise has run. Here is a report of 7 schools, in and around Mangsang that show how difficult it is for educators and students in their quest for quality education in the state. The survey of these schools was carried out along with members of the GSU and FKJGP of the area.
About Mangsang: Mangsang is nestled in one of the remote sections of East Garo Hills and lies close to the border with West Khasi Hills. The village is known for its variety of rice and is just 16 kms from Rongjeng – the civil sub division that it falls under.
First school: Mangsang Bamil Govt LP School
This was the first school visited and lies close to the heart of the village. The school has a total of 199 students and 3 teachers after one of the teachers retired recently. The school itself has a total of 6 rooms with one being used as the office for the staff and the headmaster. The school was set up in 1930 and is the oldest school in the area.
The first ever school in the Mangsang Area, the Mangsang Bamil Government L.P School was established in 1930 by Jinaram W. Momin and Tosni Ch. Momin, In 1939 it was run by Dr. Dawn Saheb, the British Missionary and in 1959 it was undertaken by the GHADC and then afterwards in 1987 by the State Government.
This was the school with the best infrastructure amongst the 7 schools visited, which is not really saying much about the situation being faced by the children and staff who come to partake in education. Of the 6 rooms that are used by the children, almost all of the rooms had leaks in their roof which means that a rainy day becomes a forced holiday. Many of the windows and doors were missing in the Assam type building that houses Class Kg to Class 3.
In the rooms where Class IV and V are housed, the concrete structure had cracks that allowed water to seep through to the floor. The plaster of the entire structure is already peeling off with many parts of the ceiling already green from water seepage and growth of moss. Brooms were a part of every room to ensure the water that seeped through to the floor could be cleared away. Most of the tin roof is almost on the verge of blowing over while sections of the false ceiling have already been destroyed by winds.
The teachers stated that running the school in such an environment was not challenging but frustrating as many days, they just had to bear and grin through the loss of classes and parting of education to hundreds of students.
“We just have to bear it as it becomes impossible to take classes when it rains, especially during the monsoon. We all love the profession and want to give the best to our children who come every day to build on their future. It is just heartbreaking that the infrastructure does not support the imparting of education on a daily basis,” stated the headmaster of the school.
“We have submitted a letter to the CM on the school’s situation when he came recently and have urged his intervention. We are still awaiting a response. The matter has also been informed to the CRC of our education Block as well as the education authorities on multiple occasions. Despite all this, nothing has been done to ease the situation we face on a daily basis.
School 2: Imtra Apal SSA UP School
The second school during the visit has an enrollment of over 50 students in the UP section but no rooms for them to learn. The earlier building that was where the school was in complete ruin lies condemned. There was no roof on the building with doors and windows doing the vanishing act. The school shares a compound with another government LP school with teachers now using rooms in the LP section for classes.
The school has 4 teachers who stated that the building’s roof was blown away by a cyclonic storm and despite them sending multiple complaints about the school’s condition, authorities have been completely silent. The school was damaged in 2017 and has remained in the same state ever since. It has gone through 8 years of damage and is now completely unusable.
“If the school had been repaired immediately after the roof was destroyed, the situation would have been completely different. We could have more enrollment and taught without a thought of finding rooms. All three rooms for Classes VI – VIII are now completely unusable. What is even more frustrating is that we don’t even have toilets or a kitchen.
While the education department has not responded, locals of the area came forward and helped build 2 rooms for the complex to allow for students to be educated through MGNREGS funds.
The teachers use a common room to keep books and other valuables but are haunted by rains as even this room has leaks.
On a more somber note, another issue raised by the teachers was the lack of study and notebooks for students, something that the department, especially SSA, is supposed to provide.
According to the findings, only text books that were provided were for Maths, Science and English with nothing being provided for environment studies, Garo, Hindi or any other subject. Note books are not provided at all and has become a source of consternation amongst students and their families.
“Many of them are financially extremely weak and the fact that they need to buy books from the market, pushes quite a few to quit their studies. Sometimes, we just feel helpless. How many can we help? We also have our families to take care of. Why can’t they follow what Assam is doing for education,” asked one of the teachers on condition of anonymity.
A teacher from Assam confirmed the fact that in the state, all books, including notebooks and even drawing books are provided free for all subjects. Money is provided to the headmaster of all schools to ensure children receive all the required books for free. Further, they are provided two sets of uniforms.
In Meghalaya the situation is quite the opposite. According to sources, school gear has been contracted to various parties who provide uniforms without even consulting the school management on the requirements.
On the issue of textbooks and notebooks, a source from the education department informed that everything is centrally contracted within the state and whatever books are provided, come from Shillong to the various Block Resource Coordinator (BRC) who then distribute the same to various schools under them. Most of the time, text books of only a few subjects are provided and no notebooks given. (To be continued)