The schoolchildren here are forced to face the brunt of officials’ apathy. Lack of infrastructure and cleanliness adds to the apathy of government agencies at the only Urdu school in the area. The village, which is inhabited by only Muslims, has no other option but to send their children to this school.
The schoolchildren attend classes while the cattle roam freely on the school premises. The small playground in the school and pathway has turned slushy as the cattle defecate freely on the premises. The children sore over the garbage and filth thrown there. “It’s a challenge for us to cross the slush and reach the classroom. The stinking smell dampens our spirits. We cannot even have lunch,” the students say.
The school has sufficient funds – Rs.1 lakh allocated from seigniorage – to construct the compound wall etc., but the engineers were not willing to take up the job for reasons best know to them. The government is neglecting the Urdu school, the villagers said.
Jaffer, a villager, said repeated pleas had fallen on deaf ears and the officials were not willing to construct the compound wall and take repair works in the school. There are a few families that could afford to send their children to the private schools. The MLA hardly pays attention to the problems of this village, he adds.
The school teachers express their inability to control the neighbours of the school who were turning the school into cattle shed. Incidentally, it is one of the very few Upper Primary Schools in the district which has strength of 150 children.
Generally, the upper primary schools, on average, have strength of just 70 students. Notwithstanding the good patronage, the education department was taking initiative to develop the school, say teachers.
