Meghalaya: Teacher skips school for 3 years, 70 children stare at uncertain future

For the children of Jalwagre Songgittal, a hamlet in one of the remotest corners of the East Garo Hills (EGH) district, the dream of education has turned into a virtual nightmare, having gone without education for close to 3 years now. Reason? The appointed teacher has not gone to the school for the entire duration.

The village of Jalwagre Songgittal is about 20 km from the town of Rongjeng and has about 110 households. It falls under the Rongjeng C&RD Block but comes under the Songsak constituency for the elections. The school is also a polling station.

The drive to the village takes close to an hour with many sections of the road currently being constructed under the PMGSY. The school is near the centre of the village and till 2020, had an enrollment of 70 children. The village is mostly engaged in agriculture and plantation, with the construction of the PMGSY road helping them to earn the extra income.

The school in question is over 60 years old.

“We don’t know what to do as we have exhausted most options. The number of students would have increased in the past 2 years, but with no teacher, everyone was left without an education. The teacher, who was irregular earlier, stopped coming to teach our children for the past 2 years. Taking the COVID situation into account, it has been 3 years since our children attended a single class,” said the president of the Jalwagre Government LP School, Salseng M Sangma.

As per the villagers, the teacher in question, Sengwan Marak, was appointed to the school permanently some years ago. He had joined another teacher posted at the school and tasked with the education of the children from the village. However, the villagers maintained that even during the time when the previous teacher was present, Marak hardly visited the school or taught despite being a permanent employee.

“After the other teacher died some years ago, the situation became dire. The future of our children’s education was now left to Marak, and as has been his wont, he stopped coming to school,” added the president.

Marak hasn’t attended school in 3 years now, leaving the children to fend for themselves. The other nearest school is about 7 km away, making travel to and fro almost out of the question for most. With no other option, children now play the entire day through or until they are exhausted and need a nap.

For the villagers, the nightmare for their wards began in 2020 itself. With Marak being absent to teach their kids, the parents sought relief from the education department.

“We raised the matter with the DMO about the absence of the teacher. However, despite the promise of visiting our place, there was no action. We also appealed to the deputy commissioner (Swapnil Tembe then) in the hope that our woes would be considered. However, he was transferred and could not visit our village,” added Salseng.

They also spoke to the Block Mission Coordinator about their wards being denied education, after which a meeting was called between the villages, the BMC and the teacher.

“The teacher then signed an agreement promising to come to school daily. However, from the next day itself, he skipped and is yet to come back to school to teach,” added the cook of the school.

No follow-ups by the education department were forthcoming leaving the children to sit idle at home without an education. The villagers, as a last resort has decided to appeal to the leader of the opposition, Mukul Sangma, who is also their local legislator in the hope that things can be brought back to normal for the sake of their children.

For now, no one seems to have the answers for these children on why an entire village has been left to fend for themselves for the education of their children.

When contacted on the matter, the DMO of EGH stated that they had received a complaint and had asked the SDSEO for action against the erring teacher. When informed that an agreement between her and the teacher had been signed over the attendance of the teacher, she said she would look into the matter to work on what needed to be done.

What is disturbing is the fact that Jalwagre Songgital is not unique in the sector of education. There are several reports of similar schools in all the districts of Garo Hills. A report earlier mentioned over 100 schools in only the South Garo Hills district being without a teacher, mainly due to the government’s decision to scrap contractual teachers. The numbers in other districts will not be dissimilar. The number of students affected will also not be vastly different.

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