India school opens to teach only one student — a girl!
The school, functioning since 1972, has lost its aura with the passage of time
Patna: A school in Bihar has been opening day to teach only one student — a girl!
Jahnavi Kumari, who is enrolled in Grade One, is both the pride and star attraction of this primary school located in southern Bihar’s Gaya district.
The school, functioning since 1972, had been opened to teach the local children but it has lost its aura with the passage of time.
Right now, only nine students are enrolled in this school — two each in Grade one and Five, One in Grade three and four in Grade four but none in Grade two. However, it is only Jahnavi who attends the school every day. So, no Jahnavi, no any classes in this school!
The lone school student, thus, gets full attention from two teachers all the time. She is warmly received the moment she reaches the school with a schoolbag on her back and is seen off when she leaves her classroom after the school is over. But the teachers are not at all happy.
“It gives us a boring feeling all the time as we have only one student to teach in the school. Yet, we eagerly wait for her everyday to reach school to keep ourselves busy. Her absence means no work for us,” says schoolteacher Priyanka Kumari.
Strangely, this well-furnished school has two teachers and four classrooms and a principal’s chamber with toilet, bathroom and even kitchen to cook meal for children. At present, the school has also been cooking meal for the lone pupil everyday and if the meal is not cooked in the school for some reason, it is brought from a restaurant to be served to her.
According to the teachers, the situation has come to such a sorry stage as local villagers are least interested in sending their children to government schools. Instead, they prefer to enrol their children in private schools.
“We requested the villagers to admit their children in this school, but they didn’t show interest is us. Perhaps they don’t believe in our capability,” said school principal Satyendra Prasad.
But that is surely not the lone worry for teachers. The parents of the lone girl student have now informed the teachers that they would admit her in another school from the next session, which starts in April. So, that would mean no job for the teachers here!