Team Herald
PONDA: Strange things do happen in a democracy. Several primary schools in the taluka which were once abuzz with activities and students attended classes, are today witnessing eerie silence as the schools are “closed” due to lack of facilities. However, thanks to the “democratic ritual” called elections, that these schools are used for the voting purposes and once again witnessed some activities.
Due to the lack of facilties, many parents also shift their wards to “better” schools in a quest for better education and these schools were finally closed after the requisite number of students required to run a school diminished.
These haunted buildings stand there quietly and are reopened only when the poll bugle is sounded.
The first Chief Minister Bahusaheb Bandodkar had set up hundreds of primary schools after Goa’s Liberation. Gradually, several schools were shut down after parents decided to shift their wards to private schools for better facilities.
These deserted schools are cleaned and made “fit to live in” for the polling staff and during the few days of the democratic ritual, some action is witnessed there. Once the polls are over, these schools are locked again and are left to “rot.”
In Ponda Taluka, there are around 171 polling booths and around 80 percent are primary schools and the remaining polling booths are either government offices or secondary and higher secondary schools. In case of Ponda, even after the closure of many government schools in recent years and seven during the current academic year, there are now 107 government schools operating.
The government had recently introduced Rs 400 per students and earlier gifted free raincoats to pupils but this failed to work. According to sources in the education department office at Ponda, government primary schools in Ponda Taluka are reducing every year. Three years ago, the number of primary schools were 140. This year, the number has come down to 113. “Due to the lack of facilities and insufficient teaching staff, parents shifted their children to other schools with better facilities,” said a resident Damu Naik.
