School learns to make do with lone student

Shimla: A primary village school in Himachal Pradesh has just one student and two teachers.

So when the Class 5 student of Hamirpur district's Dhariyana government primary school, some 180 km from here, decides not to attend school, the premises are locked up and the two teachers, along with other staff, are forced to call it a day and go home.

Villagers say the school was opened some 15 years ago and had many students to start with but, over the years, local residents began sending their children to nearby private schools.

The school has no students from Class 1 to Class 4.

Ironically, the school falls in Mewa, the home constituency of state Education Minister I.D. Dhiman, but the parents feel the private schools offer a better education.