Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 21 Jul: Government schools being turned into cattle sheds is a day-to-day sight in the rural areas of the state. However, schools becoming shelter homes for migrant workers is a whole new story.
Namsai Deputy Director of School Education (DDSE) Pokdey Yongam recently directed all the headmasters and principals of Namsai district to take immediate steps to prohibit workers from accommodating themselves within school premises or compounds.
The DDSE referred to the Government Secondary School in Kumari in Lekang, wherein migrant labourers are reportedly sheltered. Yongam expressed concern that labourers sheltered within the school premises of GSS Kumari pose a grave threat to girl students, and that the situation has the possibility of disrupting the school’s educational atmosphere.
Apparently, the DDSE’s directive on unauthorised use of schools and classrooms to shelter migrant labourers came after the rape and molestation
incident at a private school in Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district, leading to the lynching of the alleged accused by an angry mob.
Yongam asked the school authorities to prohibit any unauthorised person or contractors’ labourers from using schools as shelter, in order to prevent antisocial activities and ensure peaceful and healthy atmosphere for the students and smooth functioning of the teaching-learning environment.
It is reported that a similar situation prevails in many government schools, where migrant labourers are being accommodated by the school authorities at the request of contractors, particularly where construction of new school buildings are underway.
