BAGHMARA, Aug 3: Garo Hills is absolutely about equality, so if you have poor schools in West Garo Hills, North Garo Hills, South West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, can the district of South Garo Hills be left behind? The answer is an imperious no.
A visit on July 31, to the village of Dimagre, about 35 km from the district headquarter of Baghmara showed up yet another school in the long list of those present in Garo Hills, which has rainy day holidays. This time it was a set of two schools in the same compound that showed how poor educational infrastructure was in the region.
Dimagre SSA UP School
The school has a present enrolment of 27 students with 4 teachers catering to their educational needs. The present structure has 4 rooms for Classes VI – VIII with one room acting as the office for the staff. This staff room is the only one that remains unaffected by the weather and is where all important documents, books and other important things are stored.
The school was apparently repaired last year with the meager school grant (Rs 10,000) that is provided to the school (based on enrolment). While this fund is actually meant for the purpose of ensuring availability of school essentials (duster, chalk, pens, rubber, blackboard), the school had to draw the amount to try and plug the infrastructure gap. The low amount meant that quality products could not be used which in turn meant that the newly set up roof began to have holes in them.
The first room showed a false bamboo ceiling that was falling off due to being battered by rains. There was water on the floor where the children sat in benches, with large chunks of the floor already wearing off. Children were huddled in spaces where it was dry while the teachers continued to impart education from the front – a relatively better place than the other parts of the room.
The situation was similar in the other two rooms as well – all of which had rain water seeping through the roof. Even the roof of the verandah of the school – which was earlier damaged during a hailstorm showed holes through which water seeped through. Most of the doors and windows of the institute are badly damaged and broken.
The toilets are just another story altogether – with school having not even one usable one – each one overflowing with moss and algae. “We are unable to take classes during the rains due to the leaks. Children keep their bags in those areas where rainwater does not seep through but in times of heavy weather, their efforts are futile,” said one of the teachers.
The headmaster, when asked, stated that they have made several complaints to the education authorities but were told to repair the school using the school grant – a paltry sum of Rs 10000.
“There is not much we can do as otherwise we have to spend our own salaries to repair the school. The grant is not enough to buy wood, tins and other repair materials. What about labour costs? There is simply not enough for repair,” said the headmaster.
Dimagre SSA LP School
The school has a total enrolment of 37 students with 2 teachers looking after them. As was the case with the UP section, the LP section showed the same wear and tear. The short tin roof in the two rooms that act as classrooms is not enough to prevent rainwater from flooding the rooms.
The third room, which is currently used as a storeroom, was similar with it being completely condemned due to the cracks in the tin roof above. The false ceiling too was coming apart at its seams leaving students and teachers at their wits end.
Books and other important items were seen in the 3rd room with there being no way to prevent its damage in case of rains.
The teachers in both sections further added that while they did receive books from the state, many subjects, including Garo and Environmental Studies, are never provided. This has to be purchased by them for the students. The question of supply of notebooks – which is a regular feature in all other states – did not even feature.
Dubagre Govt LP School and SSA UP School
Meanwhile, just another 20 km from Dimagre lies the village of Dubagre, towards Baghmara. Just by the side of the road, lie two schools – the Dubagre Government LP School and the SSA UP School. The first thing that one notices is the overall poor condition of the entire compound.
At least two of the structures that were present amongst the four have been completely condemned which has meant that there are only two rooms for students in the two schools. While the usable LP section is relatively new, the UP one has already begun moss growth on its ceiling.
While the LP section currently has 40 students and two teachers, the UP section reported 21 students and 4 teachers.
Given the lack of space, the two schools got together to work on how best ensure education of the children was not hampered. After much head wracking, they decided to use the facility in shifts. Currently the LP section uses the rooms in the morning and the UP section- the afternoon.
“We have made several complaints and were even asked to take photos of the school and its compound. However the department later told us there were no funds for repair and asked us to use the annual grant (Rs 25000 for LP and Rs 10000 for UP) for the infrastructure upkeep of the school. This is not enough in any sense,” said the headmaster of the LP section who lives just below the school.
While infrastructure in the two Dubagre schools is a huge concern, the headmaster highlighted a bigger and even deeper concern of students dropping out after enrolment.
“When we began the session this year, we had an enrollment of 42 but now the student count is down to just 30. 12 students have opted out of studying with only a few going to other schools. Given the present situation, it’s difficult to even call them back,” stated the headmaster.
Dubagre, as per the last census, has a population of 713 with a household count of 136 (as per JJM data) with most struggling to make ends meet. With there being no incentive to education – as most students have to pay for even their notebooks, pens, pencils and erasers – many just can’t afford the luxury of an education – apparently, free within the state.
