First government school in NE grappling with problems

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 12: The oldest government school in the Northeast, set up way back in 1834 at Guwahati, has been grappling with numerous problems. The because of prolonged negligence by the authority concerned, the school is out to spoil the future of hundreds of students.

Can anyone believe that Cotton Collegiate Government HS School, located at Panbazar in Guwahati, has HS Commerce stream with 32 students, but without a single commerce teacher? The school has a vocatiol course teacher attached from Silchar. Since he is an M. Com, he takes commerce classes, apart from vocatiol classes. More a shocking information awaits us! A secondary-level teacher of ‘Retail’, a vocatiol course subject, also teaches commerce at the higher secondary level.

The situation is no different at the science stream at the higher secondary level. The school has no Chemistry teachers. The laboratories are without any demonstrators and bearers.

What basically ails the HS School is that it has no permanent principal and vice principal. It is run by an in-charge principal.

At a time when the slogan of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan is heard in every nook and corner of the country, the oldest government school in the region is without a single sweeper. The school has no drinking water facility either.

A power bill amounting to around Rs 1.50 lakh, which the school has not cleared, smacks of its fincial condition. An auditorium of the school was under construction with Central funds. However, for the last one year and a half, the work of the auditorium has been stopped.