Walls at Paocham High School in Manipur's Ukhrul have holes that can fit a car
A school founded in 1959 at a remote village in Manipur's Ukhrul district which propelled hundreds of students to success in higher studies and finding a career has been left to decay today, local residents said.
The unpainted brick walls of the classrooms at Paocham High School have holes that can fit a car. The window frame dangles in the air without support from above or below, like an art piece.
Visuals shared by the news website Ukhrul Times show a classroom with only four benches, six students and a teacher studying together. The floor is made of hard, dried mud; the walls with brick and mortar but left unpainted.
"The residents have asked the authorities many times to repair the school, but nothing happened," Tennoson Pheirei, who visited the school, told NDTV on phone from Ukhrul. "Many students from Phungcham village have to walk to other schools in the district because the only government school in their village could collapse on them any day."
In the 70s and 80s, Paocham High School produced some of the brightest students who went on to become professors, officers and engineers, locals said. Today, there are some 47 students left. The government school is affiliated to the state board of secondary education.
The last time the school saw renovation and some new construction was in 2009-10 under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a central scheme launched in March 2009 that looked to enhance access to secondary education and to improve quality.
A strong cyclone in 2015 damaged the building, but the authorities did not carry out any major repairs after that, locals said.
This is the only school available for three villages - Phungcham, Paorei, and Varangalai - whose total population is over 5,000, Mr Pheirei said.
From 28 teaching posts in 2012, the sanctioned strength fell to 15 today. Of this, only six teachers including the headmistress-in-charge are working.
"It is regrettable to see one of the oldest and most reputed government high schools in the area in a dilapidated condition, facing an acute shortage of teachers and poor infrastructure, making it unconducive for quality education," Juneme Longleng, who heads the civil society organisation Phungcham Katamnao Mayar Ngala Long, told Ukhrul Times.
The villagers have strongly criticised the state authorities for not repairing and maintaining the school. They also questioned how the authorities list priorities, when keeping a school in proper shape would likely cost less than holding a major state-level event for one day.
Calls and emails to the Manipur Education Department went unanswered. Manipur is under the President's rule.
