Four classes in a cubbyhole!

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 26: Call it negligence to vercular medium schools in the State or otherwise, the treatment which an Assamese medium primary school in the city is subjected to is unbelievable.  Students of class ‘Ka’ and class I of the school have been asked not to attend classes as they have no space to sit on.

The sad state of affairs of Khamukh Primary School at Khamukh under GMC Ward No. 1 and No. 2 Sadar Education Block in Kamrup (M) district started on April 28 this year when a storm had lashed the city. Barring that of the office room, the storm blew off the roof of the school. All the four classrooms of the school have been roofless since then. 

Local MLA Ramendra rayan Kalita visited the school the very next day, i.e. on April 29 this year. He asked the Kamrup (M) district administration over telephone to restore the roof of the school as soon as possible so that the classes were not affected. Around two months have already elapsed. None, neither from the district administration, nor from the Department of Elementary Education has visited the school so far, let alone restoring its roof!

The school has six classes, and the two teachers have been taking their classes in the office room since them – which is a cubbyhole for being used as a classroom for as many as six classes. There is no way out but to ask the students of Class ‘Ka’ and Class I of the school not to attend classes as they have no space to sit on. The school was set up way back in 1956, and is on way to celebrate its platinum jubilee.

This is the plight of government schools in the State. This is not the only such school in Assam. In fact, the State has many schools that are plagued by one or the other problems. The setting up of model schools in the State is indeed a good step, but that should not be at the cost of attention to the vercular government schools.  

The powers that be at Dispur have completed a year. It is about time they worked hard to get everything back on track. Will they?  We can only keep tabs on that and report.