School for scandal? The joke's on you

PATNA: You've heard of a shortage of classrooms in schools. But a school running out of just one room? And that too in the heart of a state capital? The Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya in Patna's Jakkanpur area is just that one room for 100 students, nine teachers and a handpump to boot.
The government school teaches children up to class VIII; aged six to 16, they are packed into a room measuring 10 sq feet x 15 sq feet.That's not all.
The same room also doubles up as a primary school in the morning hours for another 200 students. While the primary school functions from 6.30 am to 11.30 am, the middle school runs from 12 noon to 4.30 pm.
That is, when it's not hosting a baraat. The room, which actually belongs to a temple trust, often gets rented out for social functions such as marriages. "Whenever the trust management wants the premises for a few days, we have to declare a holiday," says a teacher.
Students of different classes are made to sit in clusters with teachers often sharing bench space with students. "While teaching these clusters separately, we try not to disturb others," the teacher says, and then admits: "Frankly, the children aren't able to learn much."
Both schools have been functioning from this room for more than 25 years. Sarkari visits over the years have obviously not made much of a difference. Unless you count a handpump installed a couple of years ago.
Since there was no other place, this too came up right inside the classroom. And with it came an open drain which runs through the length of the classroom.
During primary school hours, cooking of mid-day meal for students takes place inside the classroom. When the cook lights the stove, the kids become restless as the smoke gets into their eyes.
There's no toilet, apart from a semi-pucca shack that the teachers constructed for themselves. Students have to run outside to relieve themselves.
Despite all this, the kids have tried to bravely add some cheer to their classroom. There are colourful charts on the walls, even some buntings strung up to hide the crumbling plaster.
On its part, the government admits there are many such one-room schools. "There are quite a few in Patna as well as rural Bihar," says HRD minister Brishen Patel, adding he has directed the department to make land available so that such schools can be shifted. "We are determined to put an end to the malaise," Patel stressed.