TURA, March 15 - Imagine the route to your school that passes a temporary bamboo bridge meant only for the support of a few persons, that gets washed away every year as the stream bulges during the monsoon. Now that the hard part is done and you have finally reached school, the rains start and there are but just two structures posing as school buildings � a temporary thatched house akin to a broken down cowshed and another that can at best accommodate 30 students.
This is the condition of the over 160 students that are a part of the Dokongsi Government LP School, one of the most sought after for the surrounding 18 villages.
The shocking sight of children braving nature�s fury and the pathetic infrastructure the State has subjected them to, is an eye opener to the extent they will go to for a better future but is also testimony to the failed education policy of the State.
Further there is only one teacher catering to the needs of the more than 160 students who come every day in the hope for better education. The other teacher, who was working on contract basis was forced to leave due to the recent saga of government cancelling all contractual teachers within the State.
�If this school is registered as a government institution how come none of the authorities take cognizance of the state of the rooms during their inspection? This is inhuman that they are torturing children by forcing them to study in such conditions,� said Anand Marak, UDP youth wing president who paid a visit to the village recently.
Dokongsi is one of the worst-affected villages in terms of non-development where despite decades going by nothing concrete has come about in terms of better living conditions.
According to the villagers, the school is well attended and children try and go to school everyday but they are hampered due to the condition of the school buildings as well as the lone connecting bridge to the school.
�The bridge connecting the school is a temporary structure and has been constructed and repaired by us from time to time. However during the monsoon, it will invariably be washed away by the surging waters of the stream. The children have no other option than to skip education during that time,� said one of the villagers, Restwell Marak.
Marak stated that though the villagers themselves have not put in a formal complaint on the matter, the teachers had raised the matter but to no avail.
The villagers added that they have tried to seek assistance from the MLAs of Kharkutta (under which the village falls) but have always been turned down. This has continued through the decades.
�We have no idea where to help our children get better education as our village is very remote. We have tried all the options that are available to us but that has got us nowhere,� added the villagers.
�We will definitely take up the matter with the district administration and ask as to what the Education department is doing. They have failed in their basic duty and children are suffering as a result,� said Anand Marak, the UDP youth wing president.
