In the last few days, Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) Deputy Commissioner Talo Potom has visited various government-run schools in Itanagar, Naharlagun and Nirjuli to gain an understanding of the problems affecting these schools. The visit assumes significance as the state government has declared 2021-22 as the ‘Year of Education’ and has announced that the government intends to drastically improve the education scenario of the state. The majority of the government schools in the ICR do not have proper infrastructure. Many of them are still functioning from buildings constructed way back in the ’70s and the ’80s.
Apart from infrastructure, many of these schools are facing serious threat from illegal land encroachers. The performance of the government-run students in the CBSE examinations is not inspiring at all. Against the backdrop of all of this, the decision of the ICR administration to conduct a ground survey of the government schools is truly welcomed.
Potom and his team are gaining firsthand knowledge of the problem by making these visits. This will give them a fair idea of the problem at the time of submitting a report to the state government. However, there should be follow-up. Merely visiting and submitting reports won’t resolve the problems. There should be follow-up and some visible changes should take place. If not, the citizens will lose hope. The ICR is the gateway to the state, being the capital. The government schools here should be a model for the rest of the state. The standards of school will have to be improved.