By LOKANATH MISHRA, OP
Nayagada: Despite claims of improved facilities and quality of education, inadequate infrastructure and various other issues continue to affect the students at several schools. One such example is Baman Abakash High School in Itamati panchayat of Nayagada block, where the mid-day meal (MDM) is cooked on the verandah in an unhygienic environment.
Established in 1959, the school earlier functioned as two separate institutions, one for Classes I to VII and the other for Classes VIII to X. The two schools were merged in January 2021. Although the institutions are now considered a single-campus school comprising Sishu Vatika to Class X, a service road of the Balangir-Khordha National Highway 57 connecting Itamati cinema hall to Champatipur passes between the two sections.
The high school has 6 acres of land, but parts of it have allegedly been encroached upon. The road passes through the school land and efforts to remove it or bring the entire school under one campus have not succeeded.
As a result, students face difficulties in having MDM and participating in morning prayers. Students from Sishu Vatika to Class V have to cross the road to reach the high school section for their MDM. The primary section also lacks a boundary wall. The school requires 11 classrooms for Sishu Vatika through Class X, but has only six.
As a result, students of Sishu Vatika and Classes I, II and III sit together in one room, while students of Classes IV and V use another room. The primary section has only two classrooms and a small office room. The high school section has four classrooms. One is used by Classes VI and VII, while the remaining three are used by Classes VIII, IX and X.
Though the school received a grant of `1 crore in 2021-22 for five classrooms, no construction work has been completed except a smart classroom for Class IX. The school does not have a dedicated kitchen for MDM preparation. A new room being constructed by former students is also incomplete. MDM is cooked in an unhygienic environment on a verandah. Parts of the school’s front boundary wall are missing, allowing cattle to stray into the campus and roam free. The school currently has 225 students, including 84 from Sishu Vatika to Class VII, taught by five teachers.
Another 141 students are enrolled in Classes VIII to X and are taught by 11 teachers. Headmaster Prasanna Mohapatra said that although the school is a single campus school, classrooms for all classes are not available within a single compound. “The school needs five classrooms and five separate rooms. A kitchen for MDM preparation is urgently required,” he said.
Alumni committee president Sarat Chandra Sahu said the school had received more than `1 crore under the 5T initiative, but apart from one classroom, no other major facility was developed. He said separate classrooms were needed so that students from Sishu Vatika to Class X could study within the same campus.
District Education Officer Chittaranjan Pandey said steps would be taken to ensure that all classes of the campus school are accommodated within one compound.
Priority would also be given to construction of a kitchen, while other problems would be discussed and addressed, he said.
