Monkey school

Recently, there was a story in the newspapers about government school space being auctioned to private builders. The officials felt that a lot of school buildings were lying vacant for a number of years and if sold the land could be utilised for other purposes.

It sounded a bit strange because only five years back I had heard a horrific description about a government school from a close friend. She had retired from a government school where she had taught for more than 25 years.

The school she described now has a brick building, however, I still would like to share what she told me about the plight of these government-run schools in Delhi.

Monkey school

It was a school with a difference. Here, children and monkeys studied together. While the students sat on the ground, monkeys attended classes sitting on treetops, right above the teacher’s head. Much to the children’s chagrin, while they had to concentrate on serious class work, the monkeys had a rollicking time, jumping from one branch to the other. During recess the primates would charge towards the school bags, feel out the tiffin boxes and scrape out the remains. They would also take out geometry boxes and often escape with the contents.

Interestingly, this was no village school, in the interiors of the country, but a government run school, in an area, bordering a posh South Delhi colony.

“After the lunch break, we were showered with rulers, pencils, rubbers, empty boxes and even sharp objects, from above. My students sitting on treetops were asserting their presence”, an amused, Ms Veena Kayastha told me with a smile. Ms Kayastha had taught in the school for a number of years. Now retired, she was sharing her teaching experiences in government schools. “When the sun would become strong we would move the black board to the coolest corner under the tree.”

However, she was lucky to get her home science class shifted to a shed that had an asbestos cover. They left behind their four-legged, exuberant friends, but they had to contend with the sweltering summer heat. In the makeshift classroom, that had a capacity to accommodate 45 students, now sat sixty girls.

The girls came from very poor families. Some had the will to learn and improve themselves. But most of the time they did not succeed due to family pressures.

“Looking after their families was their main priority. They had to finish all domestic chores before coming to school. Some did not find time to eat, bathe or even comb their hair. I remember, my favourite student, Sharmila. A frail and weak adolescent, she frequently came to school on an empty stomach. Often some one from the teaching staff would take her aside and buy her tea and biscuits”, Ms Kayastha recounted.

In another incident, a child with very high fever was sent back home. The next day her father confronted the teacher, “I would rather see her dead than lying around in the house”. The teacher was stunned by the inhuman reaction.

Ms Charu Kumar, a senior teacher, in a government run school, in East Delhi, had a similar experience.
She cited the example of seventeen-year-old, Arti, a new pupil in her class. A quiet and reticent child, she refused to interact with her classmates or teachers. Over the months she looked more and more insecure.
Finally, the principal was informed. An inquiry was made quietly and it was found that she was ill-treated by both her step-mother and father. She was forced to do all the housework before attending school. Though her grandfather was interested in her education, her tyrannical father constantly threatened to get her married off.

“A petrified and insecure Arti, was scared to interact. She constantly lived under the fear that her father would pull her out of school on the slightest pretext,” explained Charu.

Fortunately, the Principal intervened and Arti moved in with her grandparents and completed her education.

Thus, any law enacted towards Right to Education, will remain a mere paper tiger, till the time the Girl Child is treated with contempt.