Female students of a government school are staging an agitation to demand the school's upgradation to Class X. The school is situated in Bharkalan village of Masuda block in Ajmer, Rajasthan. It has been three days since the girls have been sitting on the dharna.
Current status of the situation
Currently, the school runs classes only till Std VIII, reported TOI. There are about 299 students in the school. Out of this, 155 are girl students. A majority of the female students tend to leave school after standard VII as they have to walk a distance of about 8 km to get enrolled in Std IX at another school.
Manoj Kathat, chairman of the school committee, revealed that as the village is situated in the hills and people marry off girls early, soon after they finish their Std VIII. The boys also opt out of school and start working in the fields.
What is going wrong?
Other residents of the region also want the school to get upgraded so that the girls are able to study.
Kathat added, "The village had gifted 2 hectares land to the school and also collected Rs 15 lakh to construct the building for the government school but officials are not heeding to our problem."
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He said that a memorandum has already been given to the sub-divisional officer and also block education officer. Both of them said that the proposal will be sent to the chief minister's office, giving them a receipt. But little has changed. The school wasn't upgraded and the new session has just started.
Female students accompanied by local villagers locked the school and sat on a dharna demanding upgradation. They threaten to go on a hunger strike if their demands are not met.
Villagers added that they will not let the school run if the school is not upgraded to Class X.
How did the officials react?
After being informed of the tension in the area, officials including the SDM, reached there. They tried to assure the people that the school will be upgraded.
A district education officer said that the proposal has already been referred to the higher authorities.
Kathat said that just assurance is not going to work and the officials need to give it in writing, otherwise the agitation will continue.
The farmers added that they have to prepare the field for crops, but they have postponed it as it is necessary to sit on a dharna for their kids' education.
Kriti Dwivedi is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv
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