Room with a school

THE officials handling Maharashtra8217;s ambitious Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan for universal primary enrolment could do with a sunny hike across...

THE officials handling Maharashtra8217;s ambitious Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan for universal primary enrolment could do with a sunny hike across the vast, dry fields of Sangli on the Karnataka border.

They will meet young Pramila Kamble, panting hard, as she shuffles between rows of students of Class I-IV crammed in a 10 ft by 10 ft free room in the home of farmer and tempo driver, Vishnu Bindale at Arag village. His ageing mother cooks the compulsory mid-day meal of 100 gm rice per child in the family kitchen. 8216;8216;No big deal,8217;8217; grins Vishnu.

Here, Pramila has a nameplate to prove a BA degree can go places. 8216;8216;I pretend I8217;m teaching one class, not four at a time,8217;8217; she says. When Class I is told to be quiet and draw, Pramila pays attention to alphabets for Class II. But restless Class IV left alone with sums, musters up a noisy pitch. Class III stares blankly, waiting for their turn with teacher. Is that quality education?

New one-teacher schools have not been sanctioned in Maharashtra since several years. But an exception are vastishala or community schools started in homes or just anywhere free so that kids don8217;t have to walk miles to schools far away.

A school in Rs 13,000?

8226; Identify villages where kids walk over 1 km to school
8226; Make friends with parents, get a free room at home
8226; Hire the local BA lad roaming jobless in the fields
8226; Convince him Rs 1,000 for 10 months is good money
8226; Squeeze Class I-IV same time, same classroom
8226; Crunch expenses in Rs 3,000
8226; Ignore complaints of quality education

Sangli8212;a region losing 8-10,000 children annually to primary enrolment because of drought, private schools and parents dying of AIDS8212;has cosied up to the idea nicely with 120-plus vastishala.

Students hardly grumble. Sushant Patil stays farthest and walks 30 minutes to school. 8216;8216;Short walk,8217;8217; he says breezily.

Here, Rs 1,000 a month salary is good money. MA, BEd Madhukar Pawar showed off his degrees at 11 interviews from Konkan to Pune, only to return frustrated to farming. Now in an unused panchayat shed, a nameplate flaunts his degrees, 34 students call him masterji.

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8216;8216;Even if I complete syllabus slowly, my students learn to read at least,8217;8217; he says, with students neatly divided into rows to signify their respective classes. 8216;8216;Rs 1,000 is better than nothing.8217;8217;

The vastishala may buck up enrolment statistics by coaxing kids into class in villages with a student strength of 15-50. But in schools where forgotten vacancies have left only one teacher stranded, solitary teaching is not good news.

On a rugged hill in Landgewadi, 51-year-old Basling Khot scrambles between Class I, II and IV. He8217;s crammed three classes in one room. 8216;8216;I do get tired. A second teacher is sanctioned, but not appointed,8217;8217; says Khot. Though new single-teacher schools are not permitted, Sangli has an ancient cluster of 33 one-teacher schools dotting its countryside.

When our car rolls into view, Khot8217;s students finally abandon any pretence at study to clamber downhill top speed.