Kharkutta, Jan 27: Continuing the saga of schools that resemble haunted houses, the Darang Rongru Ad-Hoc UP School, is another addition to a long list of schools that have been crying out for intervention.
The school, as per the headmaster, was built as an Assam type building with 4 rooms and commissioned in the year 1969 before being given ad-hoc status in the year 1971. However, since it became operational, the school has never been repaired.
The school employs 4 teachers and has a student count of 27, a far cry from the numbers that it had years ago when the infrastructure was still usable.
The school falls under the village of Dokongsi which has more than 200 households in the district of North Garo Hills (NGH) under the Kharkutta C&RD Block.
A visit to the school showed almost its entire infrastructure in complete tatters – with doors completely rotting as were the windows, many of which were missing. Even the floor of the school showed the wear and tear of decades of use.
“We used to have a healthy student count earlier but seeing the condition of the school now, students and parents avoid our school and even go miles further to get their children an education. We feel helpless in the face of a challenge that we can hardly do anything about,” informed the headmaster during the visit.
The headmaster informed that they have made multiple implorations to the district’s education authorities as well as their local representative but have failed to attract any attention to their situation. What is even more surprising is that the school is actually a polling station for the village.
“Since the establishment of the school, we have managed well and many students from this school have gone on to do higher studies and are doing well in life, with However the building is said to have been constructed in late 1970s but till date there has been no repair or renovation and no sanction for repairs or renovation have come from the department, despite us approaching them several times with applications,” informed the headmaster.
As has been the case with many such dilapidated school structures, the school cannot function during the rains as the roofs in all the rooms are replete with holes.
“We cannot take classes during monsoons or whenever there is a storm or strong winds blow. We have to immediately leave the school and run for safety. In recent years school enrolment has also gone down as children are not attracted to come to school with dilapidated buildings. Although this is an ad-hoc school there is not much difference from a government school because we contribute the same amount of effort. So we appeal to the government and the leaders concerned to look into the matter and help to get a new school building,” implored the headmaster.
Embarrassingly, the school also does not have a working toilet though one was begun many years ago but left incomplete.
