This Govt School In Punjab Has One Teacher, One Student: Here's Why

A government primary school in Kothe Budh Singh village in Punjab's Bathinda has only one teacher and one student. Other children of the village study in the private schools leading to empty classes in the government school. The teacher and the education department of Bhatinda have been constantly trying to encourage parents to send their students to the government school. But their effort has shown no positive result. 

As per the reports, the teacher, Sarabjit Kaur, joined the school in May last year. Initially, she felt awkward because only one student showed up to study. The student studies in fifth standard and will be appearing for exams next month. 

In her attempt to fill the empty benches of the classroom, she went door to door convincing parents to send their children to the government school which is no less than the private schools. Narrating her experience, she told the media, "I visited many houses in the village and talked to the parents to convince them to send their children to study in a government school. All the facilities are available in this government primary smart school. There is no shortage but still, the villagers consider it better to send their children to private schools." 

Will the school shut down?

An official of the Bathinda Education Department said that earlier a few students used to come to the school, however, presently only one student has been studying for the past year. Since the school remains empty, the official said that it might shut down and move to someplace else. 

Talking to the media, the official said, "Following the guidelines of the government, this school can be closed and shifted to some other place later. The government is spending a lot of money to educate a child. Since it is a primary school, this child will study in this school only for about 1 month." 

The official further added that after a month, there will be no student to teach. So there is no point in keeping the school open. "A complete report will be prepared and sent to the government by the Education Department, Bathinda soon," he added.