Tshering Namgyal | Mongar

Nagor Middle Secondary School in remote Silambi gewog developed in the last few years after the government decided to upgrade it and establish additional infrastructure.

An administrative block with a six-unit classroom and a girls’ hostel was approved for the school to meet the needs of the school. However, the delay in construction has not only worsened the issues but affected upcoming developmental activities according to school management.

In the absence of the administrative block with dedicated offices, teachers and staff have been working out of a small temporary staffroom and the empty IT lab.

“With no proper cubicles, it’s a lot of inconveniences for overall work schedule and performance,” a teacher said.

The situation is even worse for students without standard hostel facilities. The girls shifted to a unit in the boys’ hostel that has a toilet inside. This has left the boys in a crowded room.

“Installing double beds in low ceiling units blocks the light and is not conducive for studying,” a house captain of the school, Sangay, said. “It makes the room very hot.”

Similarly, he said it becomes difficult for young children to go to the toilet outside, especially at night.

“Sometimes, there has been issues like kids shitting or urinating aside in the hostel vicinity,” he added.

School management said the delay in approved construction also hampered other planned activities.

Principal Som Bdr Monger said that the construction of the multipurpose hall, which is also in the plan in the next package, couldn’t begin because of the previous unfinished work.

With the students not fitting in the old small dining hall, he said the students take meals in turns.

Nagor Tshogpa Pema Lethro said if the already long-delayed construction is deferred further it might affect the approved promotion of the school to a higher secondary school. “The parents are worried they would have to bear huge expenses of sending class X pass students to the distant schools of Mongar and Kilikhar high schools.”

Both the structures, the administrative block with a six-unit classroom block and the 120-bedded girls’ hostel, worth Nu 32.339million were awarded to M/s. Gayjur Construction Pvt. Limited for a period of 18 months in January 2020.

The construction has been delayed by 14 months now and just over half of the work has been completed so far.

According to local residents, although there has been a few workers at the site the contractor failed to supply the required materials hampering the work progress.

Almost all the structures in the school are single-storeyed. It’s also in the plan to upgrade the school to a higher secondary school soon, therefore, the structures have become indispensable.

Unlike other middle and higher secondary schools, the boarding school also lacks a utility vehicle or bus which is deemed essential.