SIRAHA, DECEMBER 30
A majority of primary schools across Siraha, where most of the children from Dalit families study, are in a miserable state due to utter mismanagement and irregularities, with quality of education being ignored.
While some schools are operating under below-average teachers-to-students ratio and classes don't run regularly, other schools with very few students are said to be involved in irregularities by inflating their students' numbers.
A case in point is Dalit Primary School of Golbazar Municipality-1, Muksar. The school has a total 85 students to go by its attendance registers: 29 students in child development classes, 20 in Grade I, 21 in Grade II and 15 in Grade III.
But when submitting students' number, the school inflated the number and claimed money for textbooks, lunch and scholarship for 91 students. Still, when it comes to students' daily turnout, it's hardly 25. All the students at the school are from Dalit community. Besides, while school Principal Niroj Yadav rarely comes to school, his wife, who also works at the school, also shows up rarely.
Another primary school in Sukhipur Municipality-4, Balahi has no different story either. The school running classes up to Grade IV has a total of 126 students as per the attendance registers. Interestingly, not even 15 students come to school. The school has a contract-based teacher, a relief quota teacher and a child development assistant. But, it's very difficult to find all the three at school at the same time. Principal Ananda Singh is said to be usually found in his brother's school rather than his own school.
Another school, Janata Primary School of Sukhipur-4, Pokhariya, has also a similar story. Though the attendance registers of the school show students number at the school at 120, twenty or so students come to attend classes. It has three teachers but none of them are regular to school. Similar is the story of another Janata Primary School of Naraha Rural Municipality-3, Barahi. Hardly 10 students come to school here, but school registers show students' number at 131.
In fact, this is the plight of most of the community primary school in Madhes Province. Though many had felt that education's quality would improve with the consolidation of the local government, the expectation hasn't been realised. Experts have expressed concerns at the decreasing quality of education at such schools, attributing it to the negligence of stakeholders.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 31, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
