Kendrapara: The Panchubarahi Upgraded Government High School in Bagapatia Rehabilitation Colony is different from other schools in the state. Here, though students have been enrolling their names, studying and are also appearing for their annual exams for the last seven years, the children have been doing all these on their own because the Education department has not appointed even a single teacher.
According to locals, only Panchubarahi Nodal UP School was earlier in the sea erosion prone Satabhaya gram panchayat (GP). All the people of the panchayat depend on the lone school to provide their wards education from primary to Class VII. But in the said panchayat there was not a single high school. So, in order to provide their wards high school education, the locals of Satabhaya GP were forced to depend on Gopalpur High School, which is nearly 15km from Satabhaya.
Due to lack of proper communication, most of the students in the panchayat were earlier forced to say goodbye to high school education. As a result, the villagers of Satabhaya had earlier urged the district administration and the state government to set up a high school in their panchayat. Later, August 29, 2012, the state government directed the District Education Department to upgrade the Panchubarahi Nodal Upper Primary School under Rashtriya Sikshya Mission. Afterwards, it has become Panchubarahi Upgraded Government High School.
Earlier, it was functioning from a thatched house, but when the villagers were shifted to Bagapatia Rehabilitation Colony, the state government also constructed a high school within the rehabilitation site and the Panchubarahi Upgraded Government High School started functioning from there.
But the District Education Department has failed to appoint a teacher for the high school. Though there are teachers in the school, they were appointed to teach Class I to Class VII students. As many as two Sikhya Sahayaks and four Gana Sikhyakas were engaged for teaching the students from Class I to Class X, said Sudarshan Rout, a local.
If sources are to be believed, in the ongoing academic session (2019-2020) as many as 87 students are in Class VIII; 67 in Class IX; and 81 in Class X. Though everyday students go to school, they are forced to study on their own while some of the meritorious students help their classmates in their studies. Even the Panchubarahi Nodal UP School teachers help the students by preparing themselves from answer books, informed Kumar Sahu, a teacher of ME School of Satabhaya.
When contacted, district Collector Samarth Verma stated that he would direct the District Education Officer (DEO) of Kendrapara to visit the school and conduct an inquiry. He would take steps accordingly after the submission of DEO report.
Due to lack of teachers, only 12 students passed Matriculation examination in D and E grade, school sources said.
PNN