Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, May 5: Kantagaon UGH School at Tentulikhunti block in Nabarangpur district is the only school in undivided Koraput district to celebrate its double centenary. It turned 212 years old recently.
In his written reply to a question of Jeypore MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati in writing, school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra said as many as eight schools exist in undivided Koraput district — present Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts. However, Kantagaon Upgraded High School is the only school to have crossed 200 years.
The school at present has 320 students between Class 1 to X and has 11 teachers including the headmaster. The school which used to be a primary school has been upgraded to high school just a few years back. In the previous academic session, around 48 students of the school appeared for the Class X board examination.
Despite being one of the oldest schools in the state (established in 1804), the school is yet to carve a niche for itself, thanks to administrative apathy.
The school has seven classrooms, two which are newly-constructed and the rest being in a dilapidated condition surrounded by an incomplete boundary wall.
The remoteness of the school has also deprived it from getting administrative attention. The Kantagaon village under Tentulikhunti block, where the school is located, is at a distance of 15 km from Tentulikhunti which itself is 30km from Nabarangpur town.
“The number of classrooms is insufficient. Condition of five classrooms is very poor. Leaking of water from tin roof during monsoon forces teachers to shut down school sometimes but the administration doesn’t pay a heed to these problems,” said one of the school staff who wished not to disclose his identity.
Most people in the region don’t even know when its second centenary was celebrated, while a staffer said school documents from the pre-independence era have perished due to lack of facilities for upkeep of files.
In undivided Koraput, seven more such schools exist which have crossed 100 years. Sirijhol UGH School at Borigumma in Koraput was set up in 1885, UGH School, Mentry at Nandahandi in Nabarangpur was set up in 1902, Govt Boys’ High School Gunupur in Rayagada was set up in 1903, Govt Boys’ High School at Jeypore municipality in Koraput was set up 1910. UGH School Chacha at Jharigaon in Nabarangpur was set up in 1915 and Konogam UGH School at Borigumma in Koraput was set up in 1916.
Mishra in his reply has said the state government has no special budget provisions for schools which are over 100 years old.