IMPHAL July 15: The Kwatha Junior High School in Kwatha VIllage, Tengnoupal did not open for a single class last year and remains acutely defunct this year too, with just two teachers available in the school, a member of the Kwatha Village Authority told media persons today.
Kwatha Village Authority, meira paibis and the local youth club called a joint press conference today at the Manipur Press Club decrying the negligence of the Education department towards the school.
Speaking to media persons, spokesperson Kshetrimayum Yaima said the village has more than 65 children and one third of them have been put at Imphal, Moreh, Pallel and Kakching for schooling due to the apathy of the Education department to ensure Right to Education in the village for primary students.
He said three teachers are posted at the junior high school, but one of them has remained absent on a permanent basis.
The classrooms of the school have no partitions and there are no other facilities available, yet the concern Education department has failed to monitor the attendance of the teachers or the state of the school till date, he lamented.
Yaima lamented the total apathy of the present government to the issues confronting the school.
During the last election campaign in the village, deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam had told the village that `development of State can happen only when the remote peripheries like your village are equally developed,` he said.
However, this statement of the deputy CM has not been turned into action, he lamented.
He said, only two nurses man the local Primary Health Centre without any doctor or caretakers present. This has caused deaths during numerous delivery cases, he continued.
Yaima also continued that the fortnightly rotational visit of the doctors have also stopped for more than two months.
The only seven km road stretch connecting the village to the Asian Highway 1 remains neglected by the government and its PWD for several years, he continued.
`When the Works minister visited us, we were elated with hope however there was no attention given to this lifeline of the surrounding villages`™ he lamented.
The villagers have been collectively maintaining the road clearing monsoon landslides, log blocks, he said.
Yaima also said that they had never allowed money to influence them during the election and had always voted honestly, however, MLA Korungthang has not only abstained from visiting us but have denied an audience even when we come to visit him in Imphal.
No PDS items have ever reach the village during the last more than three years, he continued.
As for the ICDS provisions, Yaima said the villagers have to themselves bear the transport expenditures.
The unskilled villagers have to act as electric linesmen as there is no other choice, he continued.
Customs, Police, Forest and CID collects tax from us for our vegetable products yet we have no choice, he said.
While we are the real ones safeguarding the territorial integrity of the State, our plight remains unattended by the government, said K Yaima.