“One school has already closed! Another is on the verge of shutting down!! In Kailashahar, government educational institutions are struggling for survival against private schools.”

Due to the indifference of state-level officials of the Education Department, one after another government school in Kailashahar town has started shutting down. Already, one government school in the town area has remained closed for the past year, and another is feared to shut down very soon. Local MLAs, public representatives, and social workers have all remained silent spectators in this situation. According to the town’s residents, because of such extreme negligence by senior state-level officials of the Education Department, the education system in Kailashahar will soon hit rock-bottom.

It is noteworthy that the Kailashahar Senior Basic School located in Kazirgaon, right within Kailashahar town of Unakoti district, has been closed for the past year. Due to a lack of students, classes have been suspended and the teachers have been transferred to nearby schools. As a result, the school has remained closed for the last year.

On the other hand, at the Bimal Singh Complex area in the town, the Bimal Singh Complex JB School currently has only six students from Class I to Class V, and there are two teachers. Although the two teachers attend regularly, the six students do not attend school regularly. This scenario was observed on Thursday, 4 December. On that day, only two students—a boy and a girl—came to school. As per routine, both stood before the teacher and sang the national anthem, after which the class began.

Among the two teachers at the school—Swapna Dey and Preeti Sinha—Swapna Dey is the Teacher-in-Charge. Speaking about the school, she said that although there is one student in Class I, there are no students in Class II. There are two students each in Classes III and IV, and only one student in Class V. The few students who come to school daily are provided with the mid-day meal. At one time, the school had 60 to 70 students. But one of the main reasons for the present decline to only six students is that within a radius of just 400 meters, there are two government schools and three private schools. Moreover, most parents nowadays prefer English-medium schools for their children’s education. For these reasons, parents are not enrolling their children in this school.

Swapna Dey also stated that during 2016 and 2017, efforts were made by the Department and the local Municipal Council to relocate the remaining students to a nearby government school and transfer both teachers there, since the number of students was decreasing rapidly. Several meetings were held regarding this. However, after the change of government in 2018, no further steps were taken by the Department, creating the fear that the Bimal Singh Complex JB School may soon shut down completely.

When asked about government schools shutting down in the Kailashahar Municipal area, Kailashahar’s School Inspector Radhan Tripura also acknowledged the situation. He said that the Senior Basic School in Kazirgaon has become non-functional due to having no students. Meanwhile, the Bimal Singh Complex JB School has seen a sharp decline in student numbers over time, and now only six students remain. The Department had verbally informed that the students and teachers of this school would be shifted to a nearby government model school, but without written orders from senior officials, he is unable to take any action.

The state government claims to be working day and night to bring major reforms to the education system. However, even as one government school after another is shutting down in Kailashahar town and government schools are in a deplorable state, local MLA Birajit Sinha has taken no visible steps or initiative on this issue. Not just the MLA—other local public representatives and social workers have also neither commented nor taken any action regarding the matter.