Some people of Jarey in Lhuentse say there is a need for a boarding facility at Ladrong Primary School. The issue was raised by the Jarey Gewog’s Mangmi during the recent Dzongkha Tshogdu.
There are 91 students currently studying at Ladrong Primary School. Of which, 27 students are from Yumchhe and Paam villages. They have to walk for almost four hours daily to school and back home. Parents say it is risky for students especially during summer, as they have to cross streams, which are swollen by monsoon rains.
Following a flash flood last year, the school had to accommodate students coming from Yumchhe and Paam villages as informal boarders for a month.
“Actually there is no policy in the education ministry to provide boarding facility to few numbers of students but parents wish to get boarding facilities at Ladrong primary school, taking into consideration the challenges faced by students during the monsoon season,” Kinzangla, the Jarey Mangmi, said.
According to the education ministry’s policy, a minimum of one hundred students is required to be eligible for boarding facilities in any school.
“I would like to propose to establish extended classrooms at Yumchhe and Pam villages which could be one possibility for students to minimise taking risks during summer. But I don’t know how feasible that would be but it would be better and safe for classes PP to three to study back in their villages,” Ugyen Pem, the Chief Dzongkhag Education Officer, said.
But some local leaders said the quality of education would be affected in extended classrooms.
Going by the school enrollment projection prepared by the school, the school has fewer chances of getting the boarding facility until 2023.
