Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government’s recent decision to permanently shut down 386 primary schools across the state may have been intended to optimize resources—but in parts of Itanagar Capital Region (ICR), it has inadvertently opened the doors to another crisis: rampant land encroachment.
A ground report by NewsFy has revealed shocking conditions in four such defunct schools in the ICR. From crumbling buildings and overgrown premises to missing entrances and unauthorized use of the land, the once-functional government institutions now lie in a state of utter neglect.
At Government Primary School, Sanglopotung, established in 2009, the last academic session was 2022–23 with just 14 students enrolled. But locals claim it hadn’t functioned “for at least three years before that.”
“We never saw any teacher or student here since 2020,” said a nearby resident, requesting anonymity. “Now people use the field like it’s their backyard.”
The school lacks even a proper gate or fencing. The land appears to have blended seamlessly into adjacent private properties and one must walk through dirty nallahs to reach the school.
A few kilometres away, Government Primary School, Sangring Hapa, which started in 2012 and served just 10 students in its final year, is now a deserted shell with no functional classrooms or signage indicating its purpose.
The situation at Government Primary School, Zoo Area is more alarming. Though the school operated only from 2014 to 2021, the official closure notification came as late as 2025.
The school building which still seems to be in a good shape, however, is now being used as bedrooms and godown to store goods.
Similarly, Government Primary School, Museum Colony, shut down in 2021 after 25 students attended its final year. Yet the formal closure came only this year. The path to the school is now a bizarre obstacle course as visitors must pass through private backyards just to reach what’s left of the compound.
“It’s like the school was swallowed by the neighborhood,” said a parent who once sent her child there.
What ties all four schools together is not just administrative apathy but the growing threat of land encroachment. With no physical boundaries and no government presence, these institutions are slowly being erased—not by bulldozers, but by silence.
When NewsFy contacted District Land Revenue and Settlement Officer Byabang Naemeh, she confirmed that land records for the affected school plots are still “under process.”
She asked us to return after a week, assuring that more details would be available once the documentation is in place.
“The closures were supposed to redirect resources to better-performing schools under a rationalization policy. But officials now face tough questions: What happens to the unused infrastructure and, more crucially, the land?” a citizen familiar with the developments said.
Also read: Arunachal govt shuts 386 schools with ‘zero enrolment’
