MOTIHARI (Bihar): The condition of the only Dalit boarding school in the East Champaran district is pitiable. The Ambedkar residential higher secondary school in the Sugauli block has become the victim of the indifference of the government and the politicians. Over the last four months, the students have fasted unto death twice to protest against the mismanagement of the school. But they haven’t been heard. The school does not even the basic facilities stipulated by the government. The number of teachers in the school is grossly insufficient. The students said that the books for the current academic session have not been made available.
Last May, after the students staged a protest against the mismanagement of the school, BDO Amit Kumar, a probationary IAS officer, visited the school and talked to them. The students told him that they had not been given the money for uniforms, books, medicines and sanitation for two years. The BDO had instructed the headmaster Harishankar Tiwari to ensure that the students were provided with all the promised facilities before the summer vacations. It was after this assurance that the students had given up their protest. However, when their demands remained unfulfilled, they were forced to stage a protest again.
Published in the December 2014 issue of the Forward Press magazine
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