JANAKPURDHAM: There are two ponds nearby. There are some holy shrines as well. The place looks delightful at a glance. But slightly ahead, there is a narrow path between the Ganga Sagar and Dhanush Sagar ponds.

At around 2 pm in the afternoon, some are seen littering on the narrow road with their noses closed, while others are passing by. The narrow road has become a place for the vendors and local traders to urinate.

Along the same road, there is a school next to the pond. There is no movement of students in the school. The teachers present there are basking in the sun on the southern side of the open field in front of the school.

Yes, there are some children jumping here and there in some classrooms.

In one or two such rooms, a teacher is seen to be teaching. The stench of defecation coming from the narrow road nearby reaches the classroom directly. The stench is clearly visible on the faces of both the teachers and the students.

Such is the scene of Rajarshi Janak Rastriya Prathamic Vidyalaya, a primary school located at Janakpurdham-4.

It was only last week. Principal Banarasi Devi has been on leave for three days.

According to Anita Thakur, one of the teachers at the school, a total of 112 students are enrolled in the school; but only 17 were present on the day we visited there. We saw eight students in Grade 2, three in Grade 3, two in Grade 4 and five in Grade 5 making the total number of students present in the school 17 only.

The pre-school room and Grade One had none in the class.

According to Thakur, the school used to attract many students before the pandemic.

“Previously, there used to be the crowd of students here, but now due to coronavirus pandemic and the private schools there just a few students,” she told Khabarhub adding, “ most of the locals do not send their children in this school, only the children of the people who come in this area for wage-earning come here.”

As many as 13 teachers

Although the school record shows 112 students enrolled there, less than 25 students are present daily when the school reopened after the coronavirus outbreak.

There are eight teachers in permanent quota, four in relief quota, one in early child development, and one in office assistant quota making a total of 13 staff in the school.

According to the government provision, there should be a 1:50 teacher-student ratio in Terai. As per this provision, there should have been 650 students in Rajarshi Janak Primary School.

Ram Baran Das, the teacher says that the guardians have the wrong notion that the public schools do not offer quality education.

He says unless the parents change their biased notion against the public schools, the number of students will not increase in such schools.

Most of the parents have enrolled their children in private schools.

According to Das, the number of students is decreasing continuously for the last five years. Even the students who come to school also run away in the afternoon.

“Most of the students of this school are from the Dalit community,” Das told Khabarhub, “ they come to school when they are free. Even among the Dalits, only the children of the poorest families come here.”

He revealed that most of the children of school-going-age go to work to support their family.