The School that Teaches Only One Student

It is rightly said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which can be used to change the world”. Education is the key for the all-round growth and development of a child. The Centre has also made education its most prioritised agenda and has issued the slogan – Padhega India tabhi to badhega India in furtherance of the same. The most crucial role is played by the schools in the field of imparting quality education to the children.

The union and the state government spend a lot of money in the education sector expecting to see a hike in the literacy rate of India. But the question is that- Is India really heading towards being more literate? Are there enough number of government schools that take up the responsibility of imparting quality education and working on the agenda of the government? Well if not many, there is definitely one which is - Government Lower Primary School located in Krishnaraja Nagar taluk, about 65kms from Mysuru city. This school is an Urdu medium school with just one student and two diligent teachers. On one hand where most schools plan to shut down because of inadequate number of students enrolled, this school is running just to educate the little girl named Nayeema, who is a student of the 3rd grade. Nayeema is the daughter of an agricultural labourer. She spends almost 6 hours in the school campus where the two teachers Sabia Sultan and Nagaraju teach her Urdu and Kannada respectively. This school was established about 60 years ago, and had quite a lot of students enrolled in it but lately these students left the school as their families relocated to urban areas. Most of the children of the Dalit community in the village don’t choose to study here because this school was initially set up to educate the Muslim children of the region. The school authorities are of the view that although only one student is enrolled in the school, but their effort to impart quality education is not going waste. They would continue with the school as long as there is at least one student. They may think of shutting it down once there are no students at all.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-school-with-just-one-student-but-many-lessons/articleshow/65650112.cms