At Dappar, students learn the hard way

Satinder Pal Singh

Dappar/ Lalru, May 22

Staff crunch, lack of infrastructure and leakage in rooms are the problems one can find on a visit to Government Elementary School in Dappar near Lalru here.

Education seems to have taken a back seat as the school has been facing the staff crunch for several months. The school has only three teachers as against the sanctioned strength of five. “I have apprised the authorities concerned regarding it as well the poor state of infrastructure several times but to no avail,” rued a teacher.

Though the authorities are required to maintain the student-teacher ratio as per the Right to Education Act, the state government has failed to recruit teachers against vacant posts.

Besides,the elementary school paints a grim picture on the account of infrastructure as there are no benches and students are made to sit on tattered mats. They were seen attending classes sitting on tattered mats, belying the tall claims of providing quality education in the state.

“We have no other option but to ask students to sit on tattered mats. The student strength has increased manifold in the recent years, all thanks to Right to Education Act (RTE), but the infrastructure is still lacking,” said one of the teachers.

“Since the ceiling of all classrooms leaks during rain, the school building needs an urgent repair,” said sources. Notably, the school has 130 students.

When contacted, Inderjeet Singh, DPI (Elementary), said that he would ask the District Education Officer to pay a visit to the school and take a stock of the issues.

He said the school authorities could submit their demands to the higher authorities and they would try to fulfil the demands at the earliest.