Post News Network
Binjharpur, April 22: Attending classes under a tree and eating mid-day meal on the roadside have become a routine for the students of Pairakh Project Primary School in Chikana panchayat under this block in Jajpur district. These are the additional costs they have to pay for their education.
It has been eight years since the inception of the school, but the district primary education project authority (DPEP) has not been able to construct a building for the school to provide essential amenities like drinking water and toilets.
According to headmistress Pratima Sahu, the state government had sanctioned Rs 8 lakh for the construction of the school building two years ago but the money had to be returned as the authorities failed to allot a land to it. When asked, block resources centre coordinator (BRCC) Pramod Kumar Samal confirmed the allegation.
Even several complaints by villagers and school teachers before the higher authorities have failed to resolve the problems of the schools.
There are two lady teachers for 57 students enrolled in Class I to Class V. However, only 20-22 students attend the school regularly while rest of them stay at home as their parents do not feel it safe to send them to study under a tree. While children of rich persons of the area study in private schools, people having very low income only send their wards to the school. In the absence of the building, the school also fails to attract many other poor students of the area.
The school is running under a roadside Ashoka tree near Jagulai temple in the village. While several vehicles run on the road daily, a mishap at any point of time may not be ruled out, parents of several children said. Mid-day meals for students are prepared in the house of Bijay Nayak, a villager, which are then brought over to the site to serve the students on road.
In the absence of toilets, not only the students but the lady teachers also feel embarrassed. Moreover, a large pond in the village lying close to the school poses threat to the life of the students. Locals often dump soiled leaves and wastes in a drain close to the school which causes diarrhoea and vomiting among the students.
“Nobody will like to send their children to a school in the absence of minimum facility for education,” Anand Sahu, a villager, said. Villagers alleged that while influential persons and mafia in the area have encroached upon several government lands, the authorities’ failure to allot a land for the school is rather deplorable. However, Bishnu Charan Sutar, district project director, DPEP, blamed the villagers for return of the money allotted to the school building. He said the villagers should strive for providing a land for the school instead of blaming the authorities.