Lone secondary school for Chakmas lies in utter neglect

By Tejang Chakma published by Merinews on 9 June 2012

      “Govt. Secondary School, Diyun under Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh, is the       only secondary school for about 46000 Chakmas of the district. But, the school has no basic facilities. One teacher has to teach more than 100 students.”

THE CONDITIONS of most of the schools in Arunachal Pradesh are dismal. Lack of basic facilities is a common feature. In some schools, the children are even forced to sit on the floor due to lack of benches.  

Similar is the situation of the Diyun Government Secondary School under Diyun Circle in Changlang district which lies in utter government neglect. Diyun Township is the only secondary level school for a population of about 46,000 Chakmas of the district. In the absence of secondary school for the Chakmas, this school has to accommodate not only students from Diyun circle but also students passing out upper primary education from other circles every year. This results in overcrowding and affects the quality of education.

The authorities have not shown any interest to uplift the pathetic condition of the school. Many appeals went unheard. The school was initially constructed by the Chakmas on self-help basis. Except construction of a few pucca classrooms some years ago, no upgradation or renovation work has been undertaken since then.

As a result, the school lacks all the basic facilities. Overcrowding is a recurring issue. The total enrollment from Class I to X even touches 2000 at times. There were nearly 1400 students in the school last year. Overcrowding in upper primary level in the school has declined to some extent following the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. However, overcrowding continues in the secondary level in the absence of secondary schools. Last year, 429 students were enrolled in Class IX. No less was the overcrowding in Class X. It is not difficult to comprehend the environment where these students study.

The lack of proper and adequate infrastructure adds to the problem of overcrowding. No additional classrooms have been constructed for the rising number of students. There are only nine classrooms in the schools. Some of the classrooms have no proper structure. In some classrooms, the students had to sit or stand due to lack of bench/desk. In a letter to the Deputy Commissioner, Changlang, D Riba (APCS), Extra-Assistant Commissioner (EAC) cum Chairman of School Management Committee, Diyun while highlighting the dismal condition of the school stated “The school is run without sufficient numbers of bench/desk as a result many students are settled to sit on the floor or stand.”

In addition, there was serious shortage of teachers for the large number of students. The students-teachers should be 1: 40 as per government norms. However, the school was functioning with only 19 teachers last year. Thereby the school was short of at least 16 teachers.

The school had no drinking water facilities. The students were required to collect water from a distance for drinking. The existing water tape was non-functional.

Non-funcitonal girls'  toilets of Diyun school

One of the serious problems being faced by the students in particular girls was the lack of functional toilets in the school. The school has toilets including separate toilets for girls. However, toilets are non-functional/locked due to lack of water connection. Without this basic necessity, not only the school children, especially girls run the risk of illness. They refrain from drinking water during school hours to avoid going to the toilet and may suffer long-term kidney related complications.

The school also lacks other basic requirements such as library, sufficient reading material, computer, standard teacher-quarters, etc

These problems being faced by the students are known even to the authorities. But, no concrete step has been taken to address these problems. The authorities have even failed to utilize the fund approved by the Centre in 2010 for construction of buildings of the school so far.

On a brighter note, the school performed exceedingly well in the recently announced CBSE results for Class X despite of the appalling conditions. According to the CBSE results, 307 out of 315 students who had appeared for the Class X last academic session had passed the examination, reflecting over 97 pass percentage.