“RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY…LITTLE JOHNY WANTS TO READ”
SONEPUR: “Rain, rain go away, Come again another day, Little Johny wants to play, Rain, rain go to Spain, Never Show your face again”. This may be popular nursery rhyme and continues to be shrouded in controversy with line of the rhyme changing and reflecting the bitterness between England and Spain. But for the students of Saradhapali Upper Primay School, the rhyme holds true excepting that Little Johny wants to study rather than play in.
Today the 200 odd students enrolled in the school today learn in open after the roof of their school got blown up in the summer storm. And this then the school is also entwined in problem with the DRDA and SSA putting the onus on each other for the repair of the school even as it the education which has taken a backseat.
Located barely seven kilometers from here, both the students and the teachers reach school in time but instead of class room they sit outside the school with their bags marking the beginning of the school. The school had six rooms with asbestos roof and five out it does not have roof today after being blown up by the summer storm. The only room which has a roof has official documents and other materials which cannot be stored in open. And this forced the students to pursue education under the shade of the Mango tree outside the classrooms and little rain forces the teachers to suspend the class for the day.
Although much is being said about Universalisation of Education and construction of additional classroom under SSA, the fate of the school remain unchanged. Villagers said that even though they have apprised the district administration about the school and requested for construction of classrooms, no action has yet been taken. While District Project Co-ordinator, SSA, Sarat Chandra Mohanty said that replacing the roof is the responsibility of the DRDA, Project Director DRDA, Shyam Sundar Nayak said that the district administration is aware of the problem and Block Development Office has been asked to submit the estimate for repair of the school. Moreover, he said that SSA has been asked to provide new class rooms for the students.