Tentulikhunti: Successful Matriculation students of this block in Nabarangpur district face a bleak future due to the lack of higher secondary schools. There are 20 schools in the block, but except for one, the others do not have facilities for students wanting to pursue Plus-II courses. Ninety-eight per cent of students of Tentulikhunti block have been successful in the BSE Class-X exams, the results of which were announced a few days back. The literacy rate in the block is the highest in the district. A total of 1,224 students have passed the Class-X exams.
On the other hand, there is only the Indravati Higher Secondary School with 256 seats in the Arts stream and 128 seats in Science. Hence for successful students, there will always be an acute shortage of seats. This has sparked concern among the guardians. They fear that their kids may quit studying because of the lack of opportunities. Also, many students are from families that are not financially well off. So it will be difficult for them to send their children to far-off places and fund their studies. It is expected that the tribal students will be the worst sufferers and the maximum number of dropouts will be from their clan.
Residents of this block alleged that they are being ignored despite their kids doing well in the Matric exams. They pointed out that Nandahandi block in the district with 12 panchayats has better facilities. There is one higher secondary school plus permission has been granted to upgrade two other institutions. Then there is also the Binod Bihari College which has Plus-II facilities. Residents of this block asked as to why they will not have a larger number of higher secondary schools when other blocks have more than one. Other than the Indravati HS School, there is the privately-owned Aurobindo HS School.
However, it has only 64 seats in the Science stream and none for the Arts. Residents alleged that they have been getting a raw deal from the Education department and urged that the number of seats is increased so that the youngsters can pursue their dreams. A proposal had been submitted to the Odisha government for upgrading Pujariguda and Patraput High Schools to higher secondary institutions. However, till now there is no word on it. The Patraput village, which is the native place of Nabarangpur MLA Sadashiv Pradhani, fulfills all the criteria for the establishment of a PlusII school. However, nothing concrete has happened so far. When contacted, Pradhan said that a Plus-II school will be established in Patraput village.
However, he failed to mention a specific time frame. Nabarangpur district has institutions with facilities for Plus-II courses and is run by the state Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) departments in every block. However, no such facility is available in this block. District Planning Board chairman, Manohar Randhari informed that since 2018 plans have been made for establishing a college in Kamta village. However, to date, nothing has happened. He said he will look into the matter soon.