Rajbiraj, June 17

Lack of classrooms and furniture has forced students of Shree Khublala Jagannath Shakti Basic School to take classes in the open at Rajgadh Rural Municipality-2, Saptari.

The school has only four classrooms apart from a storeroom and an administrative office. According to head teacher Rabindra Yadav, classes are conducted under the tree due to lack of classrooms. Yadav complained that students of Grade I, II, III and IV had to be accommodated in a single classroom during rainfall.

Established some 43 years ago, the school has as many as 601 students. But for want of classrooms, students are forced to take classes in the open. Though there is a need for 15 teachers at the school, there are only seven.

Head teacher Yadav complained that their written and verbal pleas to various government agencies for construction of additional classrooms and teachers had fallen on deaf ears.

The school admitted 320 new students this year. “However, we are having a hard time retaining them for want of classrooms,” Yadav said.

Shyam Yadav, a local, said the local level administration had shown apathy towards the pathetic state of the school.