The state of affairs at the residential schools run by its ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare department must alarm the Odisha government. Going by minister Nityananda Gond’s reply in the ongoing assembly session, at least 26 students have died in these institutions since last July. Disturbingly, six of the deaths were by suicide. When a 13-year-old student of a model school in Sundargarh skipped half the classes and died by suicide in the hostel kitchen in December, his body was not found till several hours later. The way the hostels have been managed is shocking. As this newspaper has reported, some hostelites have died of snake bites and malaria. In a girls’ school in Koraput district, a student infected with malaria was left unattended for hours in the sick room on successive days in August. In the absence of any four-wheeler, an indisposed student in Rayagada district had to be carried on a bike. Such heart-breaking stories abound in the state’s tribal residential schools.
About 5.7 lakh students study at 1,760 residential institutions in Odisha. Most of the kids come from extremely distressed socio-economic backgrounds and are enrolled in the hope for a better environment that can provide education, a balanced diet and adequate health support. But apathy and mismanagement have left them in a lurch. Many of these schools do not have permanent headmasters and teachers are forced to supervise hostel maintenance. At times, kids have been left in the care of cooks and attendants. The accommodations are overwhelmed by grossly inadequate staffing, with adequate attention paid only when things go south. Girls, who form a large share at these schools, face even more challenging conditions despite guidelines specified for their safety. Last month, a class 10 girl delivered a baby on a hostel rooftop in Malkangiri and, till it was discovered, her pregnancy had remained undetected.
This government might have inherited much of this rot from the previous dispensation. But that must not be an alibi to let things stay rotten. The BJP, which touts the prominence it accords tribals, must see to it that the system gets an overhaul and the underprivileged students’ lives are protected.