Rising student enrolment is a good problem to have. But not so, at the Nagor Middle Secondary School in Silambi Gewog of Monggar. There, students have to study and sleep in tight spaces for now. That’s until a new eight-classroom block and a 120-room hostel become ready by May next year.
Established in 1998, the structures in Nagor Middle Secondary school are quite old and do not have attached washrooms.
It is the boys who are bearing the brunt of the shortage of infrastructure. They have just two single-storied hostels with three rooms each to accommodate 76 boys. Currently, there are 344 students studying in the school.
The students said the rooms do not have fans to battle the heat during summer.
“Since it is a middle secondary school there are about 400 students in the school. We have just six rooms in the hostel and the space is so cramped. As all the beds are bunk beds, we don’t get enough light at night to study,” said Sangay Khandu, a student of Nagor MSS.
The students are now waiting for the construction of new hostels to complete on time.
“The hostel is quite small and the number of boarding students is quite high. As such, we cannot maintain proper hygiene. It will be more convenient for us if the new hostel construction is completed soon,” said Tshering Nidup another student of the school.
The construction works which started in January 2020 was supposed to complete by July last year. But it got delayed due to the pandemic and the contractor was given a time extension until May next year.
“The contractor is carrying out the construction works well but the pandemic has affected him in getting the raw materials on time from India. But the school management, gewog and district administration reminded the contractor to speed up the work,” said Silambi Gup Dorji Wangchuk.
The contractor said labour shortage amid the pandemic and the bad road condition in transporting construction materials delayed the works.
Even if works complete on time, the new structures will not be able to address the shortage of overall infrastructure. It will ease the classroom and hostel shortages but school management still needs an integrated science laboratory, staff quarter and a multi-purpose hall. The school plans to propose additional infrastructure in the next Five Year Plan.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
Edited by Phub Gyem
