Infrastructure: Lhamoizingkha Middle Secondary School (LMSS) in Dagana will get two 120-bedded hostels to solve the current housing problem for the school.

At present, 287 of the school’s 772 students are boarders. The school’s principal Thinley Dorji said that the school would receive more boarders in 2017 taking the total number to 300, and 800 students in total.

Until two years ago, students had to rent accommodation in the town and other areas located close to the school.

Today most of the students are housed in the hostel including two class I students who live far away from the school. “They are absorbed because they cannot cross the river in the summer,” principal Thinley Dorji said. “Most of the students in the hostel today are absorbed due to such problems they face.”

Students from a primary school in Karmaling gewog and an extended classroom from Nichula are also seeking admission into the hostel because of the school’s proximity to these gewogs. Although students from these two schools were also given admission in the Gesarling Central School (GCS) in Dagana, most are expected to come to LMSS, the principal said, adding that GCS is over crowded.

Thinley Dorji also said that their school would take at least 30 students from Karmaling primary school. These are students who will pass out from class six this year.

Meanwhile, the tender for the construction of the hostels with attached toilets has already been awarded. A budget of Nu 15 million has been approved for the current fiscal year and more will be approved in the next year.

The hostels will also have an apartment each for the warden and matron. There were plans to upgrade LMSS to a Central School but it was cancelled.

Today, classrooms are used to house students. If the number of students increases in the next academic year, the school will face a classroom shortage.

Rajesh Rai | Lhamoizingkha