Lamjung, November 6:

We are used to hearing about schools, which suffer due to a perennial shortage of classrooms and teachers. Hard-pressed, each of these schools has no option except to accommodate students of different grades in a single classroom. And the teachers have no option except to teach students of different grades in the confined classroom. In some instances, shades of trees make for classrooms.

But Buddhi Bikash Primary School, which is based in Sanghu-4 of Banjhkhet VDC, Lamjung district, has no such problems. It has a unique feature: Here, teachers outnumber students.

Three teachers are taking classes for two students — of grade II and V. “The school has no option except to close whenever students are absent,” say guardians.

“As there are only two students, teachers go to the school on alternative days,” says Jun Tamang, a local resident. “The school is closed when students are absent.”

Sanghu village is home to 70 Tamang families. Most of the people have gone abroad for jobs.

Most of the guardians have enrolled their children at private and boarding schools in Beshisahar, the district headquarters of Lamjung, say local residents. “This has caused the closure of many public schools.”

“The number of students has dropped because guardians enroll their children in private and boarding schools,” says Nawaraj Tamang, a teacher in the school.

“Though there are just two students, teachers should come to the school regularly,” says Purna Bahadur Achhami, section officer at the Lamjung District Education Office. “We have sent a supervisor to inspect the school.”

Six years ago, a madrasa based in Beshisahar and Nalma-based Gaumati Primary School were closed due to lack of students.