7-year-old girl keeps government school running in Karnataka despite being its only student

Vartha Bharati | 27-03-2025 | 15:52:00 IST

Picture Credits: Deccan Herald

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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Karnataka issues nutrition advisory for govt events; recommends millets, healthier options

13-04-2026 ¦ 13-04-2026 IST

Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government on Monday issued a nutrition advisory recommending healthier food and beverage options at meetings, functions, and other official gatherings held in the state.

The advisory has been issued by the Department of Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Services to promote healthy dietary and nutritional habits among officials and staff, noting that food, refreshments and beverages served in government offices and official programmes are "often not aligned with nutrition standards."

The advisory recommends serving snacks such as millet-based, low-fat and low-sugar foods, fresh fruits, vegetable salads, sprouts, roasted nuts and seeds during in-house office meetings and breaks.

Beverages such as green tea, low-fat buttermilk, and locally filtered or boiled water served in glass bottles or steel flasks have also been suggested.

According to the advisory, for larger government events, conferences and exhibitions, departments have been advised to include at least one millet-based item during snacks and a minimum of two millet dishes in meals, along with local cuisine and at least one regional recipe.

It also recommends the use of brown rice instead of white rice, freshly prepared vegetable salads, and fresh fruits or low-sugar fruit juices.

If non-vegetarian food is served, it should consist of well-cooked lean or white meat, the advisory stated.

In eateries operating within government office campuses, the department has recommended millet-based foods, fresh vegetable salads, boiled pulses such as horse gram or chickpeas, and low-fat beverages.

It suggests serving food using reusable metal plates and glasses.

The advisory also recommends avoiding microwave-heated food, industrially processed food, fried snacks, high-fat or heavily spiced dishes, carbonated drinks, high-sugar fruit juices, and alcoholic beverages.

It further discourages serving milk-based tea or coffee and plastic-bottled water during official events.

“Overall, hygiene and cleanliness should be maintained while serving food and water. Local cottage industries, self-help groups, prison kitchens, nutri-gardens and others should be preferred for placing food and beverage orders,” the advisory added.