The construction of the 120-bedded hostel of Garpawoong Middle Secondary School under Dewathang Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar started six years back. However, the project has been taking baby steps towards completion, which is hurting students, who are living far away from the school. While some have rented houses near the school, others hire cars for drop and pick up services.
Karma Lhamo, a tenth grader has put up in a rented house near the school. The 16-year-old is sharing the space with other two students and they pay a monthly rent of Nu 2,000.
Including them, there are eight students, who have rented houses nearby the school premises. Otherwise, they have to walk 12 kilometres to their village Rishor, which is physically exhaustive.
“When we walk to the school, we get tired and when class begins, we lose focus. After school, heading home on foot is also very tiring. Once we reach home, we fall asleep,” said Karma Lhamo, a class X student at Garpawoong Middle Secondary School.
Since staying in a rented house is financially stressful, Karma hopes the construction of the hostel completes soon.
“If the hostel completes soon, we can shift in the hostel. It will be convenient for us since it is difficult for us to walk from Rishor to school and paying rent is challenging,” she continued.
For other 20 students, who are living with their parents in Rishor, they hire vehicles to and from school. The parents have to pay Nu 1,500 per student as a hiring charge, which is difficult at times.
“We have to keep our children in a rented house and it is difficult for us to pay. We don’t have a vehicle to drop our children to school,” complained one of the parents, Dechen Zangmo.
In a frustrated tone, she added: “the construction of the hostel is not nearing completion and we are worried to keep our children in a rented house.”
Another parent, Nima Tashi, is waiting impatiently for the hostel to complete soon.
“I really wish the hostel construction is complete soon. Then, our children can move there and commit time to studies. Otherwise, walking between Rishor and the school is really tough. During monsoon, our children are totally drenched.”
The construction of the hostel was supposed to complete in 2017. However, works were paused for some time as the district administration and the contractor had a legal tussle over the latter not paying the penalty for forgoing the deadline.
After the legal issue was settled in 2019, the district administration re-tendered the contract and subsequently, a new contractor resumed the work in February last year.
However, the project again failed to complete by the deadline, set for this April. The contractor cited lockdowns and intermittent supply of the raw materials, which delayed the works.
Meanwhile, the district administration has pushed the deadline to August, which is two months away from now.
More than 80 per cent of the hostel construction project has been completed so far. The overall estimated budget for the project is Nu 32 M.
If the works meet the extended deadline, then it would be a matter of just two months or so for the students to endure the adversity.
Garpawoong Middle Secondary School was established in 2009 and currently has about 360 students with more than 20 teachers.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Pema Lhaden
