Students of Simultala Residential School take part in the assembly. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Uncertainty looms over the entry of the new batch of students (2015-16 session) at Simultala Residential School, as the education department is yet to issue the admission notification.

A meeting of the 27-member general body of Simultala Education Society was scheduled for Tuesday but the meeting was postponed.

The institute had been a dream project of former chief minister Nitish Kumar. The school had not admitted students for the 2014-15 academic session as well.

The residential school was started at the picturesque location in Jamui district on the pattern of the Netarhat Residential School. In 2010, after the bifurcation of Bihar, the Netarhat Residential School went to Jharkhand.

The 27-member society comprises 13 officials, including the education minister, the principal secretary (education), the principal and others. The remaining 14 are academicians.

Secondary education director Ram Bujhavan Chaudhary said: “The meeting of Simultala Education Society was fixed for today (Tuesday) to discuss the issue of admission to the next academic session (2015-16) but the meeting was postponed.” The director, however, refused to give any reasons for the postponement.

Jamui district magistrate (DM) Shashikant Tiwary, a member of the Simultala Education Society, said: “Our principal and vice-principal have gone to Patna and we are hopeful that a final decision regarding admission of students in next batch would be taken soon.”

Sources said a section of the school management is against the idea of admission of students for the next academic session owing to lack of necessary infrastructure facilities to accommodate the new batch.

In 2010, the Simultala Residential School was set up on the initiative of the Bihar government to provide quality education to children studying in classes VI to XII.

The human resource development department (now known as education department) had conducted the entrance test in February 2010. Every year, the school has to enrol 120 students (60 boys and 60 girls) in Class VI. The school started its first academic session from a rented premises at Simultala. The government had a plan to construct its own building but even after all these years, the administration has failed to acquire land to construct its own campus.

Situated on a picturesque hilltop surrounded by jungles at Jamui district, about 230km from Patna, the school is currently operating out of nine rented bungalows. The famed Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay too had constructed a bungalow, which is now being used to house teachers.

Owing to lack of infrastructure facilities, the 2014-15 session was not started and no admission was conducted. Later, the school administration declared session 2014-15 as zero session.

Apart from the lack of infrastructure facilities, the teachers working in the school are not permanent. Even the principal and vice-principal are working on an ad-hoc basis.

According to sources, there are around 15 teachers but none are permanent. Many teachers have also left their jobs despite having served the school for more than four years, as they were not made permanent.

posers on institute entry

On November 17, 2013, students staged a protest over poor quality of food and education. Agitation was supported by parents

Four teachers left the school a year after it was set up. Fourteen teachers were appointed in 2013. Few months back, six teachers were recruited

Teachers are not permanent and get a consolidated salary of Rs 31,000 per month. The teachers have been demanding permanent service

Residents of Simultala donated 65 acres to construct school building. Government provided Rs 25 lakh to Educational Consultants India Limited to prepare detailed project report. Till now, no report has been prepared

Government wants to construct building on 100 acres for which land acquisition process is
going on

Since academic session 2010-11 to 2013-14, 444 students took admission of which 42 left midway