No power connection to around 30,000 schools in Assam

GUWAHATI: A bitter truth – the sweltering summer compels a large section of the Lower Primary school students think twice to attend their classes in Assam. The fact remains that over 27,000 government and provincialized LP schools in the State are off the grid (without power connection). The situation is no different for Upper Primary and High Schools.

The State Education department has been holding 'Gunatsav' since 2017-18 and taking stock of school infrastructure. This situation bears testimony to the fact that the steps taken by the department to improve school infrastructure is not adequate. Gauzing the gravity of the situation, a few persons moved the AHRC (Assam Human Rights Commission) in September 2019 seeking its intervention to address the plight of Assam school students during summer. The question which the petitioners raised before the AHRC is – how can students under 11 years of age attend classes without overhead fans when mercury soars as high as 39 degree Celsius in the State during the summer? Since the task involves a huge amount of funds, the petitioners requested the AHRC to direct various companies to provide power connections and fans to such schools under their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities.

Talking to The Sentinel on the issue, Advocate Jayanta Deka, one of the petitioners hailing from Mangaldai, said, "The plight of the students in the State made us move the AHRC seeking its intervention to solve the problem. In November 2019, the AHRC held the department accountable for the lack of power connection to such a large number of LP schools in the State. The AHRC also asked the department to file a report stating what it would do to solve the problem."

After eight months in June 2020, the department submitted its report to the AHRC and said that it had received some funds from the government for the development of school infrastructure. According to the department's report, as many as 27,907 of the 36,362 LP schools, 2462 of the 5731 upper primary schools and 152 of the 4,311 high schools in the State are without power connection.

Advocate Deka said, "The report submitted by the State Education department to the AHRC reveals that it is going to provide power connection to only a few schools. We're not satisfied with the report, and this has led us to file another petition to the AHRC on August 8."

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