Earth-cutting poses threat to LP school

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 17: The education system in Assam has been in the news for wrong reasons over years – no matter which party is or was in power.

Lack of Infrastructure, instable pupil-teacher ratio, failure in timely supply of textbooks etc., continue to dog lower primary and upper primary schools in the state.

Koidhora Lower Primary School located at Udaigar in the city is a school that has been receiving no attention from the Government. The school without any fence is located atop a hill under the threat of landslide. The school was set up in 1985 and provincialized in 2013.

“We’ve submitted applications two to three times to the Social Welfare Department to fence the school in 2013. We’re still waiting for the fence to come up. The local people cut earth near the school, deteriorating the condition. There were instances of kids falling down while playing and getting injured,” school maging committee president Hem Bora said. Founder teacher and principal of the school, Bi Da, is worried about the Gunotsav (government’s imitative to evaluate students) preparations as the students of her school have not got any textbooks from State Government as yet. She is optimistic of early solution to the problems of the school as top officials will pay a visit to the school for the evaluation of students’ learning.

“We haven’t got textbooks for the entire curriculum any of the classes. We’ve just got a copy each of each subject from primary to class V,” she said, and added: “We teach 120 students in three classrooms. There is idequate space for students. The school was a hall before it was divided into 3 classrooms. We do with 20 pairs of desks and benches against the requirement of 70. Irregularity in payment compelled two teachers to leave. The roof was leaking, but with media’s focus funds came and we got it repaired. Sometimes, we undertake repair work with our own expenses,” Das said.

“The contents of textbooks of lower primary syllabus have been changed now, needing lesson preparations for teachers. Adequate number of teachers can help it out,” Das added.