Eforts are being made by the Sikh community to restore the over 50-year old Punjabi language Guru Nanak National High School here to its past glory as there was controversy over the running of the school which now has only 300 students from its earlier enrollment of 3000 pupils.
"There was a time when this school had over 3000 students but due to poor management and vested interest of the people who were deputed by the community to run the school, the number of students has come down to less than 300, while schools opened by them in their own name are flourishing not only in Guwahati but in other places too", alleged Greater Guwahati Sikh Samaj and Gurdwara Shri Singh Sabha Fancy Bazar president Sardar Major Singh today before journalists.
"Guru Nanak Nati**onal High School was started originally to promote Punjabi language at Gurdwara Singh Sabha Fancy Bazar after the then Assam Chief Minister Bimla Prasad Chaliha had allocated land for the school in the early sixties.
Setting aside misgivings created by certain quarters claiming that the Community has nothing to do with the School and it is the property of a Trust formed nearly 15 years after setting up of the School but have no documents to prove their point, Singh said,
Dr Justice T N Singh, who had played a key role in getting the land alloted by the government for the school and was present at the time of the government handing over the land then, discounted the "misinformation campaign by vested interests that the land was given to them as refugees by the government to run the school.
"The Community is rightly concerned as there is not a single educational institution in the country which had 3000 students at one time and has now less than 300 students, while on the other hand one can see a number of educational institutions which started with less than hundred students but today they have a large number of branches in Guwahati, including the one run by the member of the the School's present management committee in their personal name", he alleged.
