7-year-old girl keeps government school running in Karnataka despite being its only student
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Bengaluru: A seven-year-old girl is single-handedly keeping the Government Lower Primary School in Maddevahalli village, Tumakuru, from closing down.
Manasa, the only student enrolled in the school, will enter Class 2 and is ensuring the school continues to operate, as reported by Deccan Herald on Thursday.
The 25-year-old school has just one student, one teacher, and one cook. Manasa is the daughter of school’s cook Ramya, who shared that poverty made her overlook the lure of nearby private schools.
According to officials of the Department of School Education and Literacy, this school was popular 10 years ago but the increase in the number of private schools nearby resulted in zero admissions to this school. “In fact, the village itself has a mere 35 to 40 households. Even the number of children eligible to be enrolled in schools is low,” Krishnappa C.N., Block Education Officer of Sira taluk, told DH.
Despite efforts from education officials to move Manasa to another nearby government school, her parents refused, citing the difficulty of traveling 7-8 km by public transport.
The teacher, Padmakka, shared that she started working at the school in 2021 when there were 10 students. She added that after normalcy returned with the end of the COVID pandemic, four students withdrew their admissions and six passed out. “This student was admitted in the 2024-25 academic year for class 1,” she said.
The school continues to provide all government schemes and facilities, including mid-day meals and eggs for Manasa. Meanwhile, Padmakka hopes to enroll another student for the coming academic year. “There is one student in the anganwadi who is now eligible to get admission to Class 1. I am convincing her parents to admit the child in our school,” she added.
Manasa told DH that she sometimes feels lonely. “When there is no class, I have no one to play with. But my teacher plays with me and also keeps me engaged in music and art classes,” Manasa mentioned.
Notably, the school did not close for a single day in the last one year except on public holidays with neither the teacher nor student availing leave for a single day in the entire academic year.
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NHRC issues notice to DM, SP of Barmer in Rajasthan over branding of students with iron rod
New Delhi (PTI): The NHRC on Thursday said it has issued notice to the Barmer administration over reports that some students were allegedly branded with a hot iron rod by their teacher at a hostel inside a temple complex in the Rajasthan district.
Reportedly, the video of the incident also went viral on social media, the National Human Rights Commission said.
The human rights body said it has taken "suo motu cognisance of a media report that a teacher, annoyed with the bedwetting by some students, branded them with a hot iron rod at a hostel inside a temple complex in Barmer district".
The NHRC has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raises serious issues of violation of human rights.
Therefore, it has issued notices to the district magistrate and the superintendent of police of Barmer, seeking a detailed report within two weeks, including the health status of the victim students.
According to the media report, carried on August 22, one of the injured boys reached his home and reported the matter to his family, after which the villagers gathered in large numbers to protest, the commission said.
In another statement, the NHRC said it has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that about 18 students at a government school in Bihar were allegedly subjected to "corporal punishment" by their teacher after locking them inside a room in Haflaganj area of Katihar district on August 21.
"Their ordeal stopped when some parents raised the alarm while visiting the premises in connection with some work," it said.
The commission has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raises serious issues of violation of the human rights of the students.
Therefore, it has issued notices to the state's chief secretary and the superintendent of police of Katihar, seeking a detailed report in two weeks.
According to the media report, also carried on August 22, several villagers gathered at the school and started protesting. Sensing trouble, all the male teachers fled the school. The police also reached the spot, it added.
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