MP villagers pool funds to build new school as govt promise falls flat

Bhopal: As their patience finally ran out with the govt and its promise to build a school for their children, residents of a tribal hamlet in Samnapur block of Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori district took matters into their own hands.

They pooled funds and put in their own hard labour to build a new school building.The only govt-run primary school that stood in the hamlet was demolished three years ago by the school education department on safety grounds, villagers said, adding that while officials assured them of building a new one, not a single brick was laid.The classes eventually shifted to a private residence, a temporary arrangement which the villagers said was now unsustainable.With the govt dilly-dallying and their words of assurance ringing hollow, about 100 households in the village agreed this month to contribute Rs 500 each for the supply of construction materials.Several men, women and even elders stepped up and volunteered to lend a hand in the construction work, helping reduce the labour cost. In several viral clips on social media, the villagers were mixing mortar, carrying bricks and wielding spades, laying the plinth for the new school building.

“For years, we kept asking the authorities and elected representatives to build a new school for our children. We received promises galore but nothing happened on the ground,” Rajni Mesram, a villager involved in the construction work, told TOI, adding, “We could not let our children study at an unsafe place.”Shyamli, another local who volunteered and joined the collective effort alongside youths and the elderly, said, “Education is our priority.

If the govt doesn’t build us a school, we will.”The villagers said they have planned to gift the new school building to the local administration, once it is done, adding that the decision to take up construction collectively was taken after a raft of petitions and meetings failed to draw any budgetary response from the education department.District project coordinator Diwakar Tiwari acknowledged the villagers’ grouse, claiming that the school education department hadn’t yet received the requisite funds to rebuild the school.

“Budgetary constraints have delayed the sanctioned work,” Tiwari said, adding that classes were shifṭed to a private structure as part of an interim arrangement.While lauding the collective initiative of the villagers, netizens also demanded greater accountability from the officials concerned. While welcoming the effort to raise the promised new school building, teachers said such voluntary action could not be a template going forward, the onus for providing school infrastructure, trained teachers and learning tools was on the govt.The villagers, meanwhile, said they were still hopeful that the administration would take care of staffing and maintenance of the building once they formally hand it over to them.