A student walks past the huge pits dug on the premises of Maidalpur nodal upper primary school | Express
UMERKOTE: Attending classes is fraught with risks for students of government nodal upper primary school at Maidalpur village in Nabarangpur’s Papdahandi block. Every day, hundreds of students have to carefully negotiate their way avoiding the massive pits dug on the school premises for construction of new buildings. As a result, parents are unwilling to send their children to the school while many students feel unsafe to attend classes.
Sources said the pits were dug on the school campus four months back. But construction work on the new school buildings is yet to start. The campus of Maidalpur nodal upper primary school spreads over 3.80 acre of land. It also houses Kasturba Gandhi girls’ school and a hostel of the ST/SC Development department. At least 256 students from Class I to VIII are enrolled in the government nodal upper primary school. Besides, 150 students from Class VI to X are reading in the girls’ school and around 100 children reside in the ST hostel. But there are only four classrooms in the school.
School principal N Adilakshmi said since it is difficult to accommodate the students in only four classrooms, it was decided to construct new buildings on the school campus. Accordingly, the pits were dug in the playground area by Nabarangpur ITDA to construct new school buildings. However, the construction work is yet to start.
School management committee president Lakhan Khamarla and secretary Subash Panjia said the contractor tasked with constructing the new buildings is deliberately delaying the work for reasons best known to him. “Our children are also studying in the school. We feel the school campus is unsafe for our son and daughter as it is strewn with huge pits. It is risky for small children to cross the ditches while walking on the school premises,” they said.
Many parents and the school teachers urged the administration to start construction work without any further delay. Contacted, district education officer (DEO) Pradeep Nag said he was aware of the situation in Maidalpur school. Efforts are being made to start construction work within a fortnight, he added.
Fact file
Campus of Maidalpur nodal upper primary school spreads over 3.80 acre
It also houses Kasturba Gandhi girls’ school and a hostel of ST/SC Development department
256 students from Class I to VIII are enrolled in government nodal upper primary school
150 students from Class
VI to X are reading in girls’ school
100 children reside in
ST hostel
There are only four classrooms in school
