Garpawoong Middle Secondary School in Samdrup Jongkhar is yet to provide a boarding facility to its students. The construction of a hostel, which began in 2016, is still incomplete.
The structure was supposed to be ready by August 2017. But the contract was terminated as the contractor failed to complete the hostel on the given time.
The district administration could not continue with the construction since the contractor did not pay the penalty amount. The matter was then forwarded to the court.
The court ordered the contractor to pay more than Nu 12 M to the district administration. But the contractor moved the High Court and in between, the hostel building remained incomplete. The High Court, recently, dismissed the case and upheld the lower court’s decision.
Consequently, the students of Rishor village of Dewathang Gewog bear the brunt as they have to walk more than 10 kilometres to reach the school.
“Until last year, we had a bus service the Coal Company provided. But now that the company is closed our children have to walk. For a few days, they did walk but later, they could not. So I hired a vehicle to get them to school by paying Nu 900 a month,” said Pema Lhaden, a parent from Dewathang Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar.
“Our children are going through a difficult time. They have to walk to and from school. By the time they are home, they are already tired and can’t eat anything,” added Chonney Dema, also from the same gewog.
As of now, the district administration plans to have boarding facility in place at Garpawoong Middle Secondary School by 2021.
The government of India funded the construction of the 120-bedded hostel which is worth about Nu 32 M.
Kinley Wangchuk
