Nature classroom, neglect policy: Bihar's sorry school saga

Whether a modern injection in the arm to re-imagine the medieval Gurukul idea, or a sorry compromise because of the haste of bureaucrats to act, some Bihar schools in the state's Supaul district still don't have a building to bear their name.

There, research under open sky in those schools that students of highly backward communities utilize to go to rural areas amidst the lap of nature, and in apparently free-range study environment, it appears utopian. But there is a somber reality behind this photo-finish.

They bear the scorching, unpredictable rains of the Koshi belt and the sporadic jolts with goats and snakes in return for being able to focus on mathematical problems or Hindi statutes.

India Today visited two such government primary schools in Supaul's Saraigarh Bhaptiyahi block. Both of them had been opened in 2006. There are regular teachers, regular classes and in a sweet surprise, more girls than boys in the class and in the strength.

19 years on, there is no permanent building.

"If the kids belonged to dominant social origin or the upper caste, then by now the system should have changed," says Bipin Ray, principal of Mukhiya Tola Primary School in Naranpur village. His school has 184 enrolled students.

One of the student, Naina, who is a star pupil dreams of being a police officer. She wins every competition she participates in. Her hopes to be a police officer just like her elder sister who sat for the police recruitment exam this year makes her a determined person.

"When it rains, we get wet," Naina laid out the grim reality of studying in open air. "Even our books get wet," she added. Determination in mind, she pleads with passion: "We need a proper school building, a fan and a washroom."

Asked why she cares so much about the construction of a school if she herself is quitting the primary school next year, she replies with a wit as crushing as it is melancholic: "Aage ka bacha padhega na."

Naina comes under the Mallah vote bank, one of the state's big vote banks. Her father is a vegetable cultivator. Her elder brother had been in the same school before but now attends a middle school located some kilometers away, popularly referred to as the "halt school" since it faces a railway halt immediately.

Interestingly, Bihar Power Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav's own native village is at the doorstep. A three-decade-old voice of the local constituency, he is popularly loved as the "Vishwakarma of Koshi." But such students' tears never reach Supaul township or Patna.

Among Class student of Mallah's Class is Class 5 student. She and her sister attend the government school, and her younger brother attends a private school in the market place near their residence. 

"My brother's school has everything. Building, fan, TV," she explained. She is listing toys his brother plays with at the private school in the market place near their residence.

She narrates how occasionally on rainy days snakes crawl into her temporary class. "We notify the teachers. They have it removed," she replied casually. Threat becomes part of daily routine.

Vishal, a school student, has his notebook topped by a newspaper front page story of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's advertisement. A contrast: the boss's head in charge of promotion over the kid's scribble in an open-to-the-skies school.

When he was headmaster at Primary School, Ray gets nostalgic discussing the uncertain future of his students. "Some of our pass-outs are teachers today," he glowed to India Today. And then he admits, "Many boys drop out after primary school. I find them loitering in the village. When I ask them why they have not attended middle school, they smile."

Since there were no rooms, a pucca shade that acted as village public space was converted into a schoolroom. "Technically, it's an encroachment," Ray admits. "But what could I do? I had to keep the kids dry and save our limited resources."

"Likewise, our institution too was standing on the railway line under a kuccha awanna. There was a storm a few years back and it was reduced to ground level. I insured this plot when I came here for my students. Also secure whatever means we possess. We have invested various amounts in constructing this building," he said.

Classes compete with blaring loudspeakers playing bhajans and Bhojpuri numbers from local functions and feasts. The distraction is round-the-clock. When India Today visited, the village had both a religious festival as well as a memorial feast to accommodate.

Class 4 and 5 children giggling confess even they at times would have danced to the rhythm. Ray explained how he pleads villagers to keep the volumes low during school hours, although that is not as common everywhere.

With the recent re-deployment of teachers and the need for training, the school is now operating half of the licensed number of teachers with only three still in place.

They are divided into classes: Grades 1 to 3 form one, and Grades 4 and 5 the other. The two teachers divided the two in half, half getting classwork and half being taught. "We do what we can," Ray said. "This is the best we can do under these conditions."

And once again, thank you from him to his future students, Ray bursts out and weeps. "I don't know what they will be. What are we giving them."

"Maybe if they were general category or non-EBCs their appeals would have already been accepted. Who knows," Ray added.

The state of the Government Primary School in Baualal Mandal Tola (Pipra Khurd Panchayat) is no different. The 2006-school also operates out of a tin shed. 50 students are huddled on to 20 wooden benches and there is no minimum ventilation in the classroom.

"Electricity theft is the norm of the day here in Bihar, but no one would ever think of purchasing a illegal connection for a school," says Archana Kumari, one of the three teachers.

The humid heat, magnified by the tin roof, is almost impossible to bear. Even this roof was built relatively recently, from school development funds, to provide some protection from storms.

Archana, who hails from Madhepura, spoke about, "I was born in the Madhepura district. My school was built during the British Era and it just happened that it was one of the best schools."

Unfortunately, this Mandal Tola school of the Pipra Khurd Panchayat of Supaul was her maiden posting and certainly not a harbinger of the primitiveness that is meant to be found in a government school.

A kuccha dining hall is utilized as the lunch hall. Two respectable toilets stand shoulder to shoulder beside it. The rail-thin veranda is utilized for prayer, play, and lunch.

The plot of land upon which our school structure is located was gifted by a family some years back. But lethargy in paperwork and long legal fight have kept every step pending.

Here also, the system of rotation is used to fix five grades on just three teachers. The general teaching classes are imparted, and students learn as much as possible. The blackboard was made locally; later, a whiteboard was installed with development funds.

System neglect notwithstanding, Mandal Tola teachers and Mukhiya Tola teachers are against school mergers. Politics is strange to the children. All that they wish to know is why classroom ceilings continue to be missing.