People in Lingdaen Chiwog of Phuentshogling Gewog and the teachers of Lingdaen Primary School are concerned about the decreasing number of student enrollment over the years. They fear that the gradual decrease in the number of students every year might lead to the closure of the school in the future.
Lingdaen Primary School is one of the remote schools in Phuentshogling. Although it is located about 40 kilometres from Phuentshogling, the bad road connectivity makes the place difficult to reach, especially in summer.
There are just over fifty students and five teachers including the principal.
A few years ago, there were about eighty students.
The teachers say that the enrollment of students has been decreasing every year.
It has been about a month since registration of new admissions opened for class PP, but the school has not received any admission so far.
Lingdaen Primary School’s Principal Tobgay said, “there is this risk of the school getting closed. I feel many young parents are moving to urban areas with their children. So here in the village, only the older people are left. Because of His Majesty The King and the government, we have good infrastructure and facilities. However, these facilities can go underutilized.”
Meanwhile, some residents believe that having a hostel facility might help increase student enrollment.
“I feel that we don’t have a hostel facility here in Lingdaen Primary School and that is why the number is decreasing. People of our chiwog are taking their children to other schools. With fewer students every year, we are worried the school might get closed in the coming years. Giving a hostel facility might help,” said Suk Bdr Rai, a resident of Lingdaen.
Ashman Rai, a resident of Lingdaen said, “there was a good number of students when the school opened. But every year, the number of students has been decreasing. This is because children whose parents are working in urban areas go with their parents. Also, we have a few faraway places from where the children cannot come to school because of the lack of hostel facilities. This way, the school might get closed. And if it gets closed, we won’t be able to send our children to other faraway schools.”
Today, the students get breakfast and lunch from the school. However, people here feel that establishing a boarding facility might help solve the issue. The Lingdaen Primary School was opened in 2011.
Kinley Dem, Phuentshogling
Edited by Phub Gyem
