Malik Sameed
After 60 years, Tengpora School is a glaring example of neglect
Srinagar: Sixty years have passed since its establishment, but four rooms are all what the school has in the name of infrastructure. Government Middle school at Tengpora Bypass, not more than seven Kilometers from Chief Minister’s secretariat, is among hundreds of government run schools, which are glaring examples of State’s poor education system.
or these students, a library, a computer lab, internet facility is still a distant dream.
One thing has surely changed; the school has been shifted from a cowshed to a rented building, which is next to the road and lacks playground.
“We were earlier operating from an upper storey of a cowshed, but recently we managed to shift it here to this rented building,” said a teacher.
The school has only three rooms for eight classes. Located on the second floor a poor looking rented building, the school is separated by thin red colour curtains to hide from the gaze of commuters. “The students in the classes were shouting at the commuters, so we contributed pocket money to purchase some curtains to hide the classrooms,” said a teacher.
The school is a glaring example of the State’s poor education system. “The children of poor people like us are left at God’s mercy. For them a computer is a distant dream. How can they compete with the students of other schools,” said Fayaz Ahmad, who owns a shop opposite to this school.
He said it is the situation of a school in the capital city. “I wonder what the situation of schools will be in far flung areas. These students can’t compete with the students of private schools. We can’t afford to send our wards to private institutions. The government should give a first priority to educations sector,” said Abdul Rashid, a parent.
The Headmaster of the school said they have been raising the questions of poor infrastructure and lack of faculty every month before the higher authorities, but till this date nothing positive has been witnessed. “On 22nd and 23rd of every month cluster meetings are organised at ZEO’s level and I raise this issue, but have got no response yet.”
Most of the students feel an unfortunate lot saying they do not have proper classrooms, how can they seek a computer in the school? “It is a dream for us. Government is playing with the future of poor students like us.”
“Leave aside a Computer lab; we don’t have a classroom to study. We have to suffer a lot in the classrooms. We don’t get the studies of that standard what the children of rich people get in private schools,” the students said.
As the mercury is soaring high, this school has no cooling system in place.
“We have to accommodate two classes in a single classroom. It not only diverts the attention of students but of the teachers as well,” said one of the teachers.
She said on one side of a classroom a teacher teaches ‘A’ and on the other another teacher teaches ‘one’ to the students of other class. “It confuses the students and they fail to concentrate on their respective classes,” she adds.