Unlike other water projects in different districts, the De-suung National Service Water Project in Wangdue Phodrang will benefit the staff and students of Samtengang Central School and Samtengang Primary School.
Teachers and students of Samtengang Central School and Samtengang Primary School in Wangdue Phodrang have been facing an acute shortage of water for a long time.
The principal of Samtengang Central School, Ganga Ram Gurung, said maintaining health and hygiene has now become a major challenge without a continuous supply of water in the school. This has also affected them in strictly adhering to the COVID-19 protocols.
“The first challenge that we face is while maintaining the health and hygiene of the students. Secondly, we are not able to prepare meals on time. Likewise, wash programs cannot be carried out as expected. Given the COVID-19 situation in the country, we are mandated to wash our hands frequently but this is proving to be a challenge for us,” he said.
The situation gets worse in monsoon season.
“Since we have a large number of students and staff here, it is quite challenging to wash the clothes due to water shortage. At least winter season is better, but in summer, we have to remain weeks and weeks without water as the rain triggers landslide and damage the water pipes. So, our students have to fetch water from other places,” said Tashi, a teacher of Samtengang Central School.
Without enough supply of water, today most of the water taps in the school run dry. Students say this is also affecting their studies.
“We are not able to maintain health and hygiene when there is no water. So, it is ultimately affecting our studies. Likewise, we have to go to the nearby locality on weekends to wash our clothes and to take bath, which consumes more time. We spent most of our time fetching water from various places,” said Sonam Wangchuk, one of the students.
“School sends boys and girls on a rotation basis to fetch water from the nearby villages when there is no water in the school. When we have to fetch water from elsewhere, it is hampering our studies,” said Wangchuk Dem, another student.
However, this is expected to be resolved soon with the recent commencement of the De-suung National Service Water Projects in the community. Since last month, more than thirty De-suups have been working tirelessly every day to solve the drinking water shortage issue in the two schools.
Under this project, men and women in orange, have to dig about an eight-kilometre long trench to lay pipes. So far, two and a half kilometres of the trench has been completed. They plan to finish the project by June, this year.
The De-suung National Service Water Project is a series of projects to build robust water supply infrastructure across Bhutan for the benefit of the people.
Upon completion, the Samtengang School water supply project will be handed over to the gewog and school for ownership, operation and maintenance. The estimated cost of the project is Nu 3.26 M.
Currently, about 700 students are studying in the school. Of which, 500 of them avail the boarding facilities.
Changa Dorji,Wangdue Phodrang
