[ Gijum Tali ]
It is a fact that many of the stalwarts in the state are alumni of government schools, and such luminaries donning the state’s colour will run into thousands for sure.
With the passage of time, many of the old schools that catered to the educational needs of the students in the days gone by are on the verge of collapse due to lack patronage and infrastructure, shortage of teachers, and other problems associated with them.
The opening of schools and upgrading of schools on a large scale in the past have done no good either and led to the closure of many schools, poor performances, and falling academic graph.
One such glaring example is the middle school in Keak, which was established in 1956 as a primary school and celebrated its golden jubilee year in 2006.
This school was instrumental in shaping many luminaries of the society from Upper Kamba, Kamba, Darak and Yomcha in those days, but the 13 years of its journey after the celebration of the golden jubilee year paints a pitiable picture of the school.
The Keak UPS today has an enrollment of 36 students, with 10 teachers to run it, due to the lack of feeder schools and the present trend of most of the parents opting for private schools.
The school can only regain its lost glory if it is converted into an inter-village school with hostel facilities to accommodate students from Upper Kamba and villages like Yaki Tato, Keak, Kesi Tali, Gemo Tali, Sesi Likar, Sere Tali and Siru Tali, right from Class 1 to 8. This will not only help students located far away from the central school to stay together in the hostel but also meet the teachers’ shortage as teachers posted here and there without purpose can be concentrated in that particular school.
This will also enhance the teaching- learning atmosphere, which is abruptly missing today. There is a dire need for inter-village schools in many hard belts where schools have been opened but the problems of teachers’ shortage, infrastructure, enrollment, etc, loom large. (The writer is DIPRO, West Siang.)
