BHAWANIPATNA: There is too much ‘‘government’’ presence in Brajamohan High School of Bhawanipatna, the oldest school in Kalahandi, literally.Set up by Maharaja Brajamohan Deo of the erstwhile Kalahandi princely state for spread of education in the area in 1916, the school is treated as one of heritage monuments in the State. Many luminaries of Odia literature like Mayadhar Mansingh and Rajkishore Ray were a part of its teaching faculty.
However, for a school with such glorious past, its premises is dotted with government offices hampering education of the students.The present building of the school was constructed in 1936 by the then chief engineer of Kalahandi Indramani Kar, who was an alumni of the school. It was considered one of the best in the State but after 1970s, performance of the school started declining due to negligence of the authorities.
The school was initially spread over an area of about 10 acres. Although playground is considered a mandatory component of a school, Brajamohan High School currently does not have one. Unfortunately till 2017, the land was not recorded in name of the school by the State Government. In 2004-05, playground of the school was used for setting up the Town Planning office and Kalahandi Judicial Complex. After an outcry by alumnus, the Government recorded 6.66 acres of land in favour of the school on June 17, 2017.
This apart, many Government offices have come up on the school premises and this has been hampering the ambience. The District Education Office has been occupying a substantial portion of the school for the last 30 years. The 4(O) Naval unit of NCC currently functions from the hostel building of the school and another building of the school is occupied by Rashtriya Madhyamik Shikya Abhiyan office. The offices are frequented by a lot of visitors and this affects education of the students.
While Plus Two course has been merged with school education in other parts of the district, this has not been done here. Last year, the Government decided to open Plus Two course in all high schools but no such provision has been made in this school. Sources said to start the course, the offices need to be shifted and it seems difficult at this moment. District Inspector of Schools, Sanjiv Singh said since the District Education Office has no building of its own, it is functioning from the high school campus but no permanent land of the school has been allotted to the office. He assured to write to the School and Mass Education Department to allot permanent land for the office so that the land under its occupation can be given back to the school.