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Nobody has time for primary schools in Orissa

Bibhuti Mishra in Orissa

Twenty-five days after the super cyclone devastated 14 coastal districts of Orissa, the state government is yet to do anything to put the primary school education back on track.

According to a government report, over 16,200 school buildings were damaged in the October 29 cyclone, 60 per cent of them beyond repair. Primary and upper primary schools, a majority of which were housed in kuccha structures with asbestos or thatched roofs, were the worst hit.

With only four months left for the annual examination scheduled in March, time is running out for the government. Says Jagabandhu Mohapatra, headmaster of an upper primary school in Kendrapara: "The government is concentrating on relief as in food and medicines. Nobody seems to be thinking of schools.''

When contacted senior officers in the education department refused to comment. An additional secretary, however, said that circle inspectors have been asked to make makeshift arrangements till the schools get new buildings.

But school buildings are not the only problem. Nearly 2.2 million primary students and 479,000 upper primary students have lost their books in the cyclone and the subsequent floods. How the government will make books available to such a large number of students in such a short period of time is a big question.

A deputy director of primary education requesting anonymity said: "In the primary education sector alone the loss is a staggering Rs 2.27 billion. It's a little less in secondary education at Rs 1.2 billion.'' He also revealed that it would be impossible for the government to provide books to all students. ''It is for sure that these students have lost at least one year if not more," he said.

Although many voluntary organisations are pledging help, a lot more is still needed. The UNICEF alone has set aside 5 million dollars for primary education. Alan Court, the UNICEF representative who is supervising the relief work, said how much of this money would be used for repairing damaged primary education infrastructure would be finalised after the evaluation of the work of District Primary Education Programme in the affected districts.

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