In four years, the first batch of a school in Arunachal Pradesh is in Class X now. However, the irony is, it is the only class of the school, located at Bana in East Kameng district of the hilly northeastern State.
The Ekalavya Model Residential School, known as EMRS, started its academic session on 10th August 2009 with 54 students in Class VI. Students were shortlisted from various districts of the State through a competitive examination and the move was highly lauded by the residents of East Kameng district, which is way down in the literacy chart. However, since the first batch of 2009, no new students have been admitted in the school making the 53 students (as one decided to leave midway), who will be facing their first Board examinations this year, the only batch and also the only class of the school.
"Reason is simple. There is no adequate teaching and non-teaching staff to cater to students more than the existing number. We cannot take more staff as there is no known source of salary for them. The current staff of five teachers (including the principal) and six non-teaching employees are still waiting for their first month's salary," explained the vice principal of the school, Omanakuttan.
The EMRS was established at Bana following the move of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs to sanction 100 residential schools (EMRS) in the country during the 9th Five Year Plan. Two were sanctioned for Arunachal Pradesh, including the one at Bana and the other at lumla in Tawang district.
The two schools were registered under a registered society called 'Arunachal Pradesh Residential and Education Educational Institution Welfare Society'. A State-level committee was formed to oversee its management, which later handed over the school to Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas (VKV) for running it. The VKV, which has become a synonym of quality education in Arunachal Pradesh over the years, took over the school and started the academic session with the infrastructure established by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
"Because of the love of the children and their extreme zest to pursue quality education, we are still around. We just cannot leave them half way and run away," said Omanakuttan, who joined EMRS in 2011. His predecessor had moved on to oversee a similar project of the VKV in the Andamans.
"According to the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, while all expenses of infrastructure, administration, stipends will be provided by the Ministry, salaries of the teaching as well as non-teaching staff will have to be borne by the State. The MoU signed between the State and VKV also provides that entire expenditure both recurring and non-recurring will be borne by both the Centre and State Governments," he said.