Karasabai Secondary School Still Incomplete, Students Left in Squalor

More than three years after a high-profile sod-turning ceremony, the long-promised Karasabai Secondary School in Region 9 remains an unfinished shell—leaving 352 students disenfranchised, forced to learn in overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions.

In a searing social media post, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) laid bare the ongoing crisis, describing a situation that it says has gone “unaddressed and neglected” by regional and national authorities despite repeated complaints.

“Our children are being taught under a benab and forced to use a pit latrine,” WIN wrote. “There is no running water. The situation is unsanitary. Occasionally, the toilets have to be closed.”

Currently, Karasabai Primary School is being used as a makeshift campus for the secondary students, resulting in extreme overcrowding and what WIN describes as “intolerable strain” on both institutions. There is no dormitory, meaning that families from outlying areas—some as far as Region 8—must find guardians for their children in the village, often resulting in substandard living conditions.

WIN further criticised the lack of basic infrastructure for teachers, who are left to sit in the school compound to prepare lessons and complete administrative work, due to the absence of a staff room.

The government’s $1.7 billion contract for the new secondary school was awarded in 2022 to Avinash Construction, with completion originally scheduled for September 2025. That deadline has come and gone, and the project remains incomplete. No new timeline has been made public.

The party’s statement issued a pointed challenge to Local Government Minister of Priya Manickchand, who was formerly education minister and Minister of Education Sonia Parag, calling on them to investigate why the project—allegedly awarded to “his [a senior official’s] best friend”—has stalled.

“Minister Parag, check with your superior to enquire about the progress of the school’s construction, since the project was awarded to his best friend,” WIN said. “While you address the situation, please ensure that our children receive improved interim structures. The people of Karasabai deserve better.”

The post has reignited concerns about transparency in public infrastructure contracts, as well as persistent inequalities in Indigenous and hinterland education.

With each passing term, the unfinished walls of Karasabai Secondary stand as a stark monument to broken promises. In the heart of Region 9, where students and teachers improvise their way through the school day amid pit latrines and overcrowded classrooms, the dream of equitable education remains out of reach. For the families of Karasabai, this is no longer a question of delays — it’s a crisis of dignity, and one they say can no longer be ignored.