Nalu village school students studying in open

Mahesh Chander Sharma

Sundernagar, December 7

Though the Himachal Government has received many awards from the Central Government for providing best education in the state, for residents of Nalu village, a Dalit hamlet in Nachan Assembly segment near Sundernagar, the state of affairs of education is not good as students are forced to study in the open as the school does not have any building.

According to local residents, the school was opened about four years ago. At the time of opening of the school one teacher was posted there and there was no building available so it was assured that the building would be built soon but till date no building has been constructed.

Further, a local resident has given a room where the mid-day meal is prepared. There are no toilet facilities nor any drinking water provisions in the school. The school management committee has written many times to the department but to no avail.

No mats have been provided on which students can sit in the open. According to B Elementary Education Officer Jai Devi Krishan Kumar, as the government provides desks to the school so mats are not being provided there.

According to local residents, they never objected to the fact that only one teacher was posted in the school and he was teaching 20 students of five classes. But they were demanding that the school building should be constructed soon as the students were forced to stay back at homes on rainy days as no space was available where they could sit.