Jahangeer Ganaie
Anantnag, Aug 4: Strange it may sound but it is a fact that Government Middle School (GMS) Aung, Matipora in Mattan area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district is functioning in a three room structure.
A primary School that was established in the 1980s and later upgraded to middle school in 2014 still lacks basic infrastructure due to which the students studying there are facing many difficulties.
The school has an enrolment of about 90 students who are crammed in three rooms, exposing the educational standards of the department.
“The school lacks every basic facility and has no facets to be called as an educational institution as there is no playground and other facilities,” locals of the area said.
As per locals, the basic issue is that despite the passage of about a decade since upgradation authorities have failed to construct any other structure there.
“There is availability of state Land occupied near the School and space available to construct other structure. The school is facing accommodation crunch and the teachers here can’t provide proper education to the students enrolled here,” they said.
The school has only three rooms where teachers have to adjust around 90 students of nine classes including KGs how can two or three teachers teach students of three classes in a single room simultaneously, they asked.
Shabir Ahmed, a local resident, said that the government focuses more on showcasing achievements in the education sector but there is no development visible on the ground level.
“Although the staff members are doing their best to provide quality education to the enrolled students, the dearth of basic facilities has got them concerned, having no answers to the anguish of the students,” he said. “Compared to other Government schools, the school has a good number of students enrolled which makes it imperative for the concerned authorities to take immediate steps in order to provide them quality facilities.”
The locals said that all students studying here belong to financially weak families so authorities must take immediate steps to ensure quality education for these poor students.
“We have apprised the higher ups so many times so far, but to no avail,” they said. Meanwhile, Chief Education officer Anantnag Mohammad Khalil while acknowledging that there is a space crunch in the school said that the concerned school head must forward a letter to us in this regard so that we can take up the issue with concerned quarters for immediate redressal of the issue.
“We will send officials there to get the ground report after which steps will be taken accordingly,” he said.
