Govt school in Kohima has no proper school building

Kohima, May 2 (EMN): In a case of serious lapse in administration, a government high school in the state’s capital Kohima town which was upgraded by the state government under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme during 2010-11, is yet to have a proper school building and classes are being run in community buildings.
Government Middle School (GMS) New Market, one of the oldest government schools in Kohima, was upgraded to a high school in 2012 academic session and subsequently, the community has acquired land for construction of a new building for the newly upgraded high school. However, in what appears to be a tussle between two parties of contractors for allotment of work, the process of construction was delayed and not a single stone was turned towards erecting a new building till 2015, when a site levelling work was carried out. The actual works began in February last year, and as per the school management, 90% of the work is done.
It has been learnt that the construction works were left abandoned by the contractors now and the school is currently using the New Market panchayat hall and a building for the colony youth to house classes 6, 7 and 10.
According to the school management committee, 440 students were enrolled in the school for the current academic session and amongst them, around 80 students are being affected due to delay of the construction of the new school building which was supposed to be completed this year.
A member of the school management said the upgraded schools were asked to start Classes IX and X as per a government directive despite constraints in accommodation facilities and non-deputation of teachers. Therefore, the Ward Education Committee (WEC) of the locality reportedly complied and started Class IX in 2013 by renting a private building to accommodate the new class with teachers of GMS section manning the upgraded class. The 10th standard was introduced in 2017 and has 20 students enrolled.
School management committee members told reporters today that they have approached the RMSA authority repeatedly but there have been no positive response till now.
One of the members said the committee is not blaming anybody, but that the issues should be settled at the earliest and the construction works should restart in the interest of the students. They are of the view that the department is ready to pay, but there is no pressure from the contractors to finish the work in time.
It was also learnt that 6 RMSA teachers were recruited following the upgradation of the school, however, despite the upgradation, no proper facilities were provided by the government.
Mention to be made here that the new site for the GHS was bought by the colony for Rs.5.5 lakh and was inaugurated on February 27, 2012. However, due to a lengthy court case between the contractors, the construction was delayed.