Bengaluru-based organisation to run remote Arunachal school

The Arunachal Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit organisation to operate and manage a school in Shi-Yomi district, official sources said on Tuesday.

The Sunbird Trust will run Papikrung Residential School in Monigong sub-division near the Indo-China border from this academic session.

The Trust operates a number of schools in other North-eastern states. There are 208 residential schools, known as Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalaya, in the state. Papikrung Residential School is one of them and it lacks adequate infrastructure, student enrollment and connectivity.

This is for the first time that an expert organisation has been roped in to manage and operate a school independently with the sole aim to revive, revitalise and transform it so that quality education and positive learning outcome could be achieved, the sources said.

Education commissioner Padmini Singla, who was present when the MoU was signed on Monday, exuded hope that the Trust would usher in new expertise, professionalism and quality in the management of the school.

Speaker P D Sona, who represents Shi-Yomi in the Assembly, said if the Trust is able to bring about transformative changes, more schools in the district and other parts of the state could be managed in the same way.

“The current enrollment in the school may be low, but there is a scope of enhancing enrollment from the surrounding villages if the performance of the school improves,” Integrated Scheme for School Education project director Pige Ligu said.