[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, Jun 9: Amid the ongoing speculations about reopening of the schools all over the country, the government higher secondary school (GHSS) here in Lower Dibang Valley district is fighting a battle of its own.
One of the oldest schools of the district, the GHSS has been functioning despite a serious lack of subject teachers, especially in the science department.
This has compelled the school’s principal to write to the director of higher education, seeking permission to not carry out admission of students in the science stream this academic session, “or until availability of teachers.”
Principal Dajum Lego expressed concern that the school has been running the science department without a chemistry teacher for the past two years.
“No replacement has been sent for the TGT in mathematics, who retired in January 2020. We do not have a laboratory assistant for the last four years. Other than the science department, we also do not have a teacher for political science for the last one year,” she informed.
Meanwhile, a few days back, a video was uploaded on social media, showing a section of the boys’ hostel without a roof. The uploader claimed that the students were living in a hostel that was in such a dilapidated condition. Speculation was also being made about the whereabouts of the missing CGI sheets and involvement of the school authority in the matter.
Lego clarified that the school authority had purposely dismantled the structure after obtaining permission from the district administration.
She informed that, despite there being other hostel buildings, the boys go against the school authority and live in the dilapidated structure, which is one of the oldest structures in the hostel area.
“The other buildings have a dormitory system, while this old building had single-room accommodations, making it popular with the students. And to break this trend, we deemed it most necessary to dismantle the structure and make it unusable,” she said.
Another important factor behind the school authority’s decision to dismantle the structure was to stop miscreants from entering and using the structure as a hub for unscrupulous activities.
Reportedly, on many occasions, the hostel structure was found to be misused by outsiders. They would enter late in the evenings for drinking and other antisocial activities, and would even spend the night there – and also cause damage to the property.
As for the old dining room structure, it has not been in use since the new building was completed a while back, the principal informed.
Lego informed that all the reusable materials from the dismantled structures have been reclaimed and stored, and would be used suitably. For instance, when the girl’s hostel was identified as a quarantine facility for returnees, it needed some maintenance, and the fund for it was arranged by selling some of the reclaimed items.
“We spent Rs 10,000 on the project and it came from within the staff itself,” she said, adding that, likewise, all the reclaimed items would be used for the benefit of the school.
Meanwhile, the GHSS still remains deprived of subject teachers, putting at stake the future of the students of the valley.
