BHADRAK:The ambitious Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) falls flat when it comes to infrastructure facilities of two schools in Bhadrak district. While a 32-year-old primary school runs from a dilapidated building, another operates from an asbestos-roof structure that was previously used as a railway police barrack. Despite repeated appeals by the officials of the two schools, the higher authorities remain complacent to the gravity of the situation.
A ramshackle structure makes up as the Pahana Primary School in Nandapur gram panchayat under Chandbali block. Roof of the school building has developed wide cracks and windows are broken. Concrete plaster from walls has chipped off. The school, which caters to 150 students studying in Class I to V, has just two classrooms. Teachers stopped using the classrooms after chunks of concrete started falling from the roof last year. The rooms were declared unsafe and teachers began taking classes in the verandah. During monsoon last year, water leaked from the roof and walls. As a result, classes were suspended for several days. The school used to function from a thatched roof structure and in 1986, the pucca building was constructed.
Headmaster Rabi Das said education of students has been hampered for the last one year. Despite repeated appeals to the district administration, the damaged rooms are neither repaired nor demolished for new construction.
Similar is the plight of 47-year-old Gopabandhu Nodal Upper Primary School, located on the campus of Bhadrak railway station. With 277 students on its roll, the school functions from a dilapidated asbestos-roof structure that was earlier used as the railway police barrack.
The school caters to students from Class I to VII and children are packed like sardines inside five classrooms, which are also used for storing office materials and food grains for mid-day meals. It lacks boundary wall, lavatory and playground - all essential components under the SSA.
Besides there is no provision for drinking water. Water required for cooking the mid-day meal is brought from the railway colony nearby. The noise from railway station disturbs both students and teachers.
Headmistress Swarnalata Sarangi said the school has been functioning from a rented house of South Eastern Railways since 1964. The rent is being paid from the contingency fund of the school. Although the district administration and School & Mass Education Department have been requested umpteen number of times for a permanent school building, no step has been taken in this regard, she added.
The school managing committee had met the Divisional Railway Manager, Khurda, recently and apprised him about the school’s condition.
Contacted, District Education Officer Ranjan Giri said the land continues to be a major problem for constructing a permanent school building. The existing rooms cannot be renovated as the structure belongs to the South Eastern Railways, he added.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has directed the School and Mass Education Department to take necessary measures for renovation of Pahana Primary School. The department has asked Bhadrak Collector and District Education Officer to file reports in this regard.