Poor infrastructure dogging primary schools in State

Pratham’s 2016 report lays bare shameful lack of drinking water

& toilet facilities, computers and libraries

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Jan 22: Although there has been a slight improvement in the primary education scerio in Assam compared to previous years, the State still has far to go.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2016 released in New Delhi recently by Pratham Education Foundation, an NGO, reflects the dismal state of primary education in Assam, especially in the field of infrastructure. Majority of the State’s primary schools with classes I to VIII don’t have drinking water, toilet, library and other necessary facilities.

Of the schools surveyed by Pratham in the State, 66.7 per cent schools have drinking water facility, 21 per cent schools have no such facility, while 12.4 per cent schools do have drinking water facilities but no water was available there. As per government norms, all primary schools should have drinking water facilities.

When it comes to toilet facility, 3.6 per cent of schools surveyed don’t have any toilet facility at all, while 61.6 per cent of schools have toilets in usable state. On the other hand, 34.8 per cent of schools have toilet facility, but not in usable state.

According to the ASER, 11.7 per cent of primary schools in Assam don’t have any provision for separate toilets for girl students. Although there are many primary schools in the State where with separate toilets for girl students, most of these toilets were either found locked on the day of the survey or were found not in usable condition.

In case of availability of library and computers for use by students in primary schools, 40.8 per cent and 98.5 per cent schools don’t have library and computers for use by students, respectively.

A primary school teacher, talking to The Sentinel on condition of anonymity, said, “Government schemes for the development of education sector in the State are well-meaning, but most of these schemes are formulated by bureaucrats without taking grassroots factors into consideration or consultation with stakeholders. For example, many primary schools in the State have power connections, but difficulty arises when it comes to payment of electricity bill,” adding, “We hope the present government will look into these issues with sincerity and do the needful to make primary education robust in the State.”