Primary, middle schools in Bihar’s Katihar struggle sans basic amenities

Manisha Khatun, 8, is the first to arrive at her village school in Bihar. With no boundary wall, it's hard to tell where the school ends and the village begins. Despite being inaugurated in 2019, the school lacks basic infrastructure like benches, fans, and lights. Even the midday meal is inadequate, with students often receiving biscuits instead of eggs. Similar issues are seen in other schools in the district, with overcrowding, lack of teachers, and locked toilets. The RTE Act is flouted, leaving students with little access to quality education.

Manisha Khatun, 8, is the first student to reach the government primary school in her village Choti Bathna Mushari Toli in Mansahi block, Katihar district of north Bihar. Since she habitually comes early, she’s been assigned the duty of picking up the keys from the rasoiya (cook responsible for cooking the midday meal) who stays close by, to open the classrooms set up in the community centre. There is no boundary wall, and it is difficult to tell where the school ends and the village begins. A plaque declares that it was inaugurated in 2019 at a cost of ₹5,74,700.

By 8.45 a.m., about 15 minutes before classes begin, there are about 30 students to attend classes from 1 to 5. Officially, 184 children are enrolled in the school that offers education free of cost, 80% belonging to the Musahar community of the Scheduled Castes, who are often discriminated against because they traditionally eat rats. Children show up in tattered clothes, with chappals.

A few start sweeping the three classrooms; some dust a blanket on which they will sit and study; another set cleans the room of the headmistress Chanda Kumari, who has not yet arrived. There are no benches, fans, or lights in the classrooms. It is now past 9.30 a.m.; no teacher nor the headmistress has arrived.

“This is the way things are. The teacher hardly takes classes, and the headmistress is usually busy on her mobile,” Shila Devi, a mother who has come to drop off her children, says.

Jitendra Paswan, a former Sarpanch of the village, says students don’t even know the spelling of simple four-letter words even in Class 5.

One student complains that every Friday they are supposed to get an egg in the midday meal, but they get a biscuit packet that costs ₹5 instead; an egg costs ₹7. Another student complains that many times they are not served chokha (mashed potato) along with khichdi. Similarly, the weekly fruit is absent.

“If we complain a lot, our children will be thrown out from school, so we remain silent,” another parent says.