MARGAO: Forget Medium of Instruction; the condition of some aided schools in Margao is so bad, one can easily bet that the people and government haven’t seen worse. Some of those schools include: New Era School, T B Cunha School and Government Multipurpose School. The most disheartening part is that they have been asking for land and building for over five years. Nothing seems to be awakening the officials responsible for proper infrastructure.
The New Era School (NES) is the worst-affected school in Margao. It has been operating in the A J Almeida building for more than 70 years. There are four classrooms and over 300 students. The benches are worth keeping in a museum and the roof of the school drips continuously. A few days ago, a large chunk of cement of the roof fell during school hours.
The worst is yet to come. Upon entering the school, one is welcomed with the smell of urine and dirt all over the passage, which can accommodate only two at a time. The toilets in this school are filthy and look like a dungeon. As the school doesn’t have a gate, the toilets can be used by anyone in the vicinity.
The management agrees that the school is in a bad state. NES headmistress Chaya Deshpande stated, “We had applied for new desks and benches with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in April, but did not get any correspondence regarding the same.”
The school’s PTA is well-informed about the situation. PTA president Mustaq Ahmed said, “The condition of the school building is getting worse, and the building may fall anytime. The government needs to help us get land soon or we will see a tragedy.”
However, Assistant Director of Education Shivakumar Jangam said, “We act immediately on the maintenance applications of government and aided schools, but I have received no complaints or applications of that sort.”
The condition of Government Multipurpose School, Borda-Margao is quite similar. The school and college may have computer labs and CCTV surveillance in some places, but the overall condition of the building and classes is bad. One can see fixtures and wires hanging, while the classrooms look like dark interrogation cells. Large pieces of cement have fallen off from the guard rail of the balcony and the metal is exposed.
“Our toilets smell, our windows panes have no glass, and our science lab is prehistoric,” said an MHS student.
Another school facing the same problem is T B Cunha School, Aquem. The school has now been shifted to rented premises, where it runs tuitions in two batches – morning and evening. The school presently trains 240 students every day with the bare minimum facilities. The former head of TBCS stated, “It’s not that we don’t want to improve the condition of our schools, but we need funds for that.”
The plight of these schools is not hidden from society, but there is a clear lack of an initiative – like the MoI agitation – from the management, parents and teachers side. Only pressure on the government can get the best for students.
