Binjharpur: Rautara Nodal High School in this block of Jajpur district has been running under a tree.
As the 57-year-old school’s building is on the verge of collapse, the students are forced to take their lessons under a tree, no matter, rain or shine. Throughout the year, 84 students of Class VI and VII have to study under the tree and take their noon meals under it.
According to sources, two schools — Banchanidhi Middle Primary School and Rautara High School — were running from the same premises. However, the school and mass education department clustered the two schools into Rautara Nodal High School in February, 2017.
The school’s building has so far survived three cyclones and four floods in the 57 years. Earlier, in 2014 flood, the school went down under eight feet of water. This has weakened the building’s structural foundation.
The locals had brought the issue to the attention of former district collector Anil Kumar Samal requesting him to renovate the school building. He had given assurance but it has remained on paper.
Many schools in the district have two or three buildings, even though the student strength is less. On the other hand, despite this school having more student strength, it has been left to its fate. That is shocking considering the fact that the government has been spending crores of rupees on educating children every year under various schemes.
Headmaster Damodar Kar said he had brought the matter to the notice of the block education officer and the district education officer on several occasions, but to no avail.
Similarly, the school management committee had also taken up the matter with elected representatives. Surprisingly, district education officer Krushnachandra Nayak claimed he was unaware of the school’s condition. PNN
