HT Correspondent
MARGHERITA, June 9: Lal Babu Singh, the founder and headmaster of Adarsha Vidya Mandir High School in Ledo, under the Margherita sub-division of Tinsukia district, retired on May 31 without receiving any salary despite dedicating 36 years of his life to teaching. The school where Singh worked did not receive recognition, leaving him unpaid upon his retirement.
This correspondent visited Singh’s residence in Ledo to understand the circumstances surrounding his retirement without compensation. Singh expressed his disappointment, revealing that although the lower primary section of the school was provincialised, the middle english (ME) and high school sections remained non-provincialised.
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Singh, who was appointed as the founder headmaster on January 2, 1988, highlighted his efforts to seek provincialisation for the school. Despite repeated appeals to the Education minister and current chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, assurances of provincialisation were not fulfilled. Singh lamented the lack of action, citing unkept promises that “not a single school of Assam shall remain non-provincialised.”
“The school was established in 1988 and I have been the headmaster since then. The school was promised to be turned into a government school. However, in the last two elections, candidates promised to take this school under the state government. Elections have passed twice, but none cared to visit the school or uplift us after the elections were over,” said Singh.
Singh also drew attention to the broader issue in the Margherita sub-division, where 15 high schools and 30 LP and ME schools have also not been provincialised. This has resulted in severe economic hardships for many teachers, forcing some to sell vegetables or work as private security guards, while others have sought employment in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai.
Despite these challenges and the pleas from teachers and educational advocates, Singh criticised the BJP-led government in Assam for not prioritising the provincialisation of schools.
