State nod to set up 83 hill schools

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Nov. 28: The state government has agreed to GTA’s proposal of setting up 83 junior high schools in the hills and work order for the construction of 16 institutions will issued soon, executive Sabha member Roshan Giri said.
Today, state education secretary Arnab Roy and Rajesh Sinha, education commissioner, held a meeting with Lt. Col (retd) Ramesh Allay, GTA deputy chief executive, and Giri.
“It has been decided that 83 junior high schools (up to Class VIII) will be set up and work order for the construction of 16 school buildings will be released immediately,” Giri, GTA executive Sabha member in charge of education, said.
The hills have 774 primary schools, six junior high schools, 53 high schools and 65 secondary schools.
Giri said a meeting to discuss the setting up of a School Service Commission for the hills would be convened in Calcutta on December 4. “A separate SSC for the hills will be set up. For this, a meeting has been convened on December 4 and we have decided to nominate (Kurseong MLA) Rohit Sharma (to represent the GTA) at an expert panel. K.K. Lohar, executive director in charge of education, GTA, will also attend the meeting,” he said.
The SSC has been defunct in the hills since 2000 and Giri said 340 posts of assistant teachers, 60 posts of headmasters and headmistresses and 47 posts of non-teaching staff members are vacant in the high and higher secondary schools.
“The government has asked us to submit a detailed proposal so that the issue can be sorted out soon,” said Giri.
The state has asked the GTA to submit a proposal of Rs 10 lakh each for renovation of at least 20 high schools and higher secondary schools. “We have demanded that 224 primary schools damaged in cyclone Aila and the (2011) quake be restored. They have asked us to prepare an estimate and send a proposal,” he said.
“We have asked the government to transfer Dow Hill and Victoria Boys (the only ICSE schools run by the state) to the GTA. They have asked us to start correspondence with the chief secretary,” said Giri.
He added that there had been a positive response from the state regarding constitution of a GTA Primary School Board instead of the District School Board. “The board will have its unit offices in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik,” he said.