Cow-Dung littered floors, dust-enveloped furniture and filthy walls greet you at Ranchi Zila School. Some 1000 students of the school belonging to Class V and X attend classes and return home every day without being taught anything. Reason? They are yet to see their new text-books.This four months after their academic session officially commenced on April 1. The state government has, however, provided books for Class IX students. ‘‘We have distributed these books. But the rest have to do without it as their books are not available,’’ said headmaster A.K. Jha.Founded in 1839 by Lord Wilkinson, the school is managed by the HRD Department with a budget of Rs 20 lakh per year. After 1947, the school alumni, comprised hundreds of reputed doctors, engineers, lawyers, IAS and IPS officers. But gradually the rot set in. ‘‘Indiscipline and corruption among staff made the school infamous,’’ said Sanjay Majumdar who retired as a teacher in ’71. It started showing in the performance. Students have rarely secured first division after 1970.Politics played its own role. Teachers started patronising students of their caste. ‘‘This ruined the school especially after the Mandal phenomena hit the polity in late ’80s,’’ said another retired teacher Praveen Adhikari.After Bihar was divided, the Babulal Marandi government set up the Jharkhand School Examination Board which opted for the CBSE syllabus on April 12.But all 12 teachers have done their education under the BSEB syllabus. So they now have to re-learn the CBSE books and teach the students, said Jha.Two teachers, reportedly trained to teach CBSE books at the World bank-aided Jharkhand Education Project office at Ratu last month, said they had no problems teaching arts subjects without text-books. But the CBSE’s syllabus of science and maths is different from that of the BSEB’s. ‘‘We find it difficult to comprehend,’’ said a teacher.Sudhakar Manjhi, a Class X student, borrowed text-books from a senior student and got them xeroxed. ‘‘I am unable to understand chapters of science and maths. Teachers are of no help,’’ he said, adding: ‘‘This time I don’t know whether I will clear Class X exams’’.NCERT books are supplied by distributors. On August 23, state Education Minister C.P. Prasad had said in the Assembly that there was no dearth of NCERT books. ‘‘Distributors are not picking them up. This has created the shortage,’’ said an IAS officer. ‘‘As per the agreement between the state and the NCERT, by the first week of next month, the latter will supply Rs 15 crore worth books for distribution among SC and ST students free of cost,’’ said Prasad.There’s rampant discipline on the campus as well. ‘‘Incidents of clashes on the campus are routine. Occasionally, classes are held on time. Most often, teachers remain absent,’’ said Arvind Kumar, a Class VIII student.But instead of taking steps to inculcate a sense of discipline among staff and train teachers, the state government had sanctioned Rs 20 lakh for purchase of computers during 2001-02. ‘‘Without computers, they can’t compete with students of private schools,’’ reasons Prasad.
