When school runs from a cattle shed & locals are thankful for it

Time of India

5 days ago

Nuh: We've seen classes take place under trees, on floors, in courtyards and on open corridors. Now here's a primary school that is inside a buffalo shed, operating from there not as a stopgap measure but since its inception in 2020.
The school at Daulatbas in Nagina block of Nuh has 126 children enrolled, about 60% of whom turn up on any day. Classes happen under a tin roof in a space that is shared with livestock. Its lone teacher, Giriraj Kumar, juggles everything from Hindi to maths across five classes, helped by an assistant. And yet, villagers are thankful for this – it's better than no school at all.
"We were tired of watching our children walk 2km to the school in Khanpur every day through bad weather and stray dog attacks," said Zarnail, a resident who donated the shed for use as a school.
"Many parents just gave up. So, we gave what we could: this shed. We thought govt would take it from there but that did not happen."
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Aarif, a Class III student, said buffaloes didn't bother them anymore, nor did the smell of dung or the flies hovering over. "Sometimes if they moo loudly, the teacher just takes a pause till they stop," he said. Class V student Iqbal said he liked school but pointed to the ceiling fan. "It works only for a few hours, that too, if we are lucky.
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On most days, we just fan ourselves with notebooks."
And yet, villagers insist they'll continue teaching their children, govt land or not, because it is easier to turn a cattle shed into a classroom than to cut through red tape. "I teach all five classes, all subjects—math, Hindi, English, EVS— under one roof, in the same space where buffaloes are tied in the evening. There's a blackboard, but the classroom has no walls, just mats spread on the floor and children trying to focus while flies buzz around.
Sometimes I'm more of a caretaker than a teacher—fixing the fan, getting drinking water, making sure the shed doesn't collapse. But what choice do we have? These children deserve better, but till someone listens, I will keep showing up. If govt can't give us land or rooms, at least we have our spirit," Giriraj said.
Just a few kilometres away in Padodiabaas village, a govt primary in a similar setting doesn't even have a shed. On most days, children sit in the open — beside goats and cows — exposed to the elements. "Tell me, how can a child study like this?" asked Nazma, a mother of three. "No roof, no blackboard, no chairs, this is not a school, it's just a name on paper. We are not against education, but is this how the govt wants us to raise our kids?"
Nasir Khan, a father of two, said his son just plays around the whole day as there is no class, no teachers.
"Sometimes, I tell my wife it's better our children stay home and help in the fields than sit under the sun doing nothing," he said.
Education minister Mahipal Dhanda expressed surprise when told about a school running from a cattle shed. "It is shocking for me to hear this. I will ask officials to find out why a school is in such a condition," he said.
Gita Arya, the block education officer for Nagina, said all schools in the block, including those in Daulatbas and Padodiabaas, were caught in gridlock. "No buildings were constructed for govt primary schools in the block for the last two years, forcing schools to run out of community halls or simply in the open. Some panchayats offered land for school buildings. But the process of transferring land title to the education department has been stuck.
Without a formal title, we cannot start construction. I've submitted repeated applications since I took charge two years ago. The files just move from one table to another," she said.