Education
“Heavy rain can easily break-down our school,” says headmaster
The infrastructural condition of schools in rural India has worsened and the govt. is not taking any action to improve it
A four-decade old state-run primary school in Bhuiyandih, Jamshedpur, is in such a dreadful condition that the school officials are telling parents not to send their wards to school during rain and thunderstorms. The school consists of a single room and a verandah where 70 students and 2 para-teachers are crammed in.
Parents who are not able to arrange even two full-meals per day rely on the mid-day meal to be the only proper meal for their children. But children miss out on that because the school is often called-off due to bad weather conditions. Ironically, the school is barely a kilometer away from chief minister Raghubar Das’ home in Jamshedpur, making a mockery of his ambitious Vidyalaya Chale, Chalayein Abhiyan, which besides enrolling children to formal education, also envisages overhauling infrastructure.
Arun Kumar who officiates as headmaster expressed his regret, “We don’t have any option but to cancel school on days of heavy rains as water dripping from the roof makes it difficult for the students to even sit, let alone study. We are afraid that the roof can collapse any time.”
Ask the children and their response is resignation at the situation mixed with regret over missing their lunch. "When it rains suddenly, I have fever. I love going to school and eating my lunch but what can we do,” said Class IV girl Arti Munda (12), daughter of a rickshaw-puller Ganesh Munda. Fifth grader Sudhir Kumar (10), son of a vegetable seller, agreed. "If school is closed, we miss the lunch," he said. "Can't we have a nice roof so that we can have school on all days, even when it rains?"
To this, Kumar expressed his helplessness. "The school management committee is not at all serious," he said. "I have written to the district superintendent of education about repairing the building but no action has been taken. The education department gives us Rs 5,000 annually for school development which, today, is too small a sum."
He added, “The education officials had spoken about a merger with a nearby school but even that has not happened. Our students have grown an attachment to the school and they cannot just leave and go somewhere else.”
East Singhbhum district superintendent of education Indrabhushan Singh says he is aware about the situation. "We know the school building is dilapidated. We will table before East Singhbhum DC Amitabh Kaushal a proposal for its merger with any other school within 1km which has good building infrastructure," Singh said.
Image courtesy: telegraphindia.com