Keonjhar: Lofty objectives behind ‘Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan’ (SSA) which aimed to ensure universal education in the country have fallen by roadside in this backward and tribal dominated district.
The slogan propounded by the mission ‘All will read and all will progress’ has been a farce in this district. At the most, the programme has covered only a few roadside schools while most of them in remote pockets of the district have become models of official apathy and indifference.
A case in point is Talabaruda primary school under Singpur panchayat in inaccessible Banspal block of the district. Although the school is hardly 50 km from the district headquarters, the status and quality of teaching in the school is pathetic, to say the least.
Even as the school is in a forested area, it does not have so much of a boundary wall, throwing safety and security of children to the winds. The students study here under the constant fear of attacks from wild animals, especially bears. In the absence of a proper tube well, they have to bank upon a nearby stream to cook noon meals.
Worse, there are just 41 students in the school between Class I and Class VIII and only two teachers are assigned to teach all eight classes. Forty-one students are split into two groups and they are made to sit in two rooms. Not to talk of other basic infrastructure like a proper kitchen to cook mid-day meals, a playground for physical education of students and other basic teaching aids.
Parents are not showing interest to send their kids to the school as there is no boundary wall to protect their children from attacks by wild animals. Not surprisingly, the student strength in the school has been declining over the years. The number of students taking admissions in Class I does not remain the same as they move to higher classes.
There are protests from locals as the authorities do not try to check the dropout rates nor do they take any measures to improve the school’s condition. The break-up of students in the school is as follows: 11 students in Class I, five each in Class II, Class III and Class IV, three in Class V, two in Class VI, four in Class VII and three students in Class VIII.
In the absence of clean drinking water, students have to depend on a natural stream flowing near the school. “As there are no boundary wall and a playground, students are not interested to come here. They create problems for the school,” said Sikshya Sahayak Raghunath Nayak.
Lalmohan Pradhan, a villager, said if the basic infrastructure of the school could be improved, more number of students will take admissions here.
At a time when the government spends hundreds of crores of rupees under the name of SSA, the pathetic condtion of Talabaruda primary school flies in the face of the government of India’s flagship programme. PNN
