Work on Schools this Winter

Editorial:-
The final examinations at schools are now very close. The end of the year exams come with their attendant features of reduced attendance in government offices [with parents keeping busy preparing their wards] and a sudden increase in the number of complaints against erratic power supply and how that affects preparations, but that is not what we are getting into here. But before we change track, one cannot help but wonder about the still continuing strike and dharna by a section of adhoc teachers of the State and of how that must be affecting students. If the students are being affected, more pressure must be exerted on the adhoc leaders and the government to resolve their difference; and if the strike is not affecting the students adversely, then one needs to ask the adhoc leaders and government why teachers whose presence or absence does not affect students have been kept around, even for a pittance by way of wages. Or forget it, don’t waste too much time worrying about this issue and turn the focus instead on schools and students and ensure that they are not forgotten during the winter holidays.
This fag end of the academic session is that time of the year when the School Management Committees and the Human Resource Development Department should be at their busiest. If they are not, then parents with children who will be returning to what remain essentially poorly-provided-for schools next year, should start applying some pressure. Schools will be closed for more than two months and the dry winter months are a good time for repairs and renovation. It is no secret that there are many government schools which could do with some repairs and renovation. Added to this mix in post September 2011 Sikkim is the need for rebuilding. Many schools, two years since that mega temblor, are still holding classes in GI Sheet rooms. Infrastructure at government schools were not the best ever, but are uneasily poor at present. This aspect of school management should not even warrant reminding because this activity should be automatic. That does not necessarily happen, so this serves as a reminder. What is even more important and necessary is for school management committees to take stock and table a wish-list with the Department which controls the purse-strings. It is possible that this [tabling of requirements] is a routine which is played out every year before the winter vacations, it is after all a logical thing to do, but this year, for a change, maybe it should rise above the annual tokenism. SMCs should make the concerned headmasters and principals forward a precise enumeration of what is required at their institution by way of infrastructure for the next academic session. Probably the tension of resolving adhoc standoff will keep the Department busy and by the time this is taken care of, the holiday mood will have kicked in and the concerns mentioned earlier will get carried forward to the next session. Let us not allow this to happen. It would be a good idea to prioritise upkeep of the schools for a change this year. The Department should organise meetings at the district level to discuss the requirements, budget provisions and priority lists in consultation with the in-charge of schools and the management committees; even set up a monitoring committee and announce another meeting for the week before the schools reopen to take stock. If things go well, students might actually enjoy the first day in school next year, as definitely would the teachers and the staff. Worth giving it a shot, isn’t it?