This is the story of a primary school situated in a remote village, Mahiganiyon Ki Dhani of Barmer District of Western Rajasthan. The school was established in July 1999. There are 69 students and only 2 teachers. The number of teachers is below the stipulated allocation for each class and does not meet the required student-teacher ratio. As a result, a number of classes are combined. Students of class 1, 2 and 3 are placed in one classroom and students of class 4 and 5 are in the second classroom and taught by one teacher each. One classroom is being used to store the raw material for the Mid-day meal. The remaining classrooms are closed. The students travel an average of 2.5 km to reach the school. Upon completion of class 5, children have the option to go to middle school at Pathodi which is 8 km far. The attendance in the schools is low during the rainy season as roads get waterlogged.
Basic seating facilities such as benches or carpets (Dhari) for the children are absent. Sitting on the floor is particularly problematic for children during the winter season when the floor becomes very cold. School does not have enough chairs for the teachers. Most of the children do not have bags to carry their books and some children of class 1 and 2 do not have slates for writing. Almost all the children belong to families with a very poor socio-economic background. There is no learning material available other than books. The walls in the classrooms do not have any educational display material like charts and posters. The school has no equipment for any kind of games and children play games like Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, etc which do not require any equipment.
The school has two tankas, one connected to the roof top which is dysfunctional and the other is filled using a water tanker. There is no other source of water. On the positive side, the school has separate and functioning toilets for girls and boys. It has a separate kitchen with the necessary utensils to cook a mid-day meal for the children.
Khetri Trust is reviewing the request for support from the school for improving the facilities and infrastructure they had identified as being inadequate.
Jitendra (Name Changed), aged 14 years is a HIV positive child who was living with his widowed mother in Sikar, Rajasthan. After the death of his father, his mother was not able to afford the school fees and discontinued him from regular school because of their poor financial condition. His mother came in contact with the organization called Positive Women Network of Rajasthan (PWNR) four years back and in one of the meetings, she discussed about Jitendra discontinuing from regular school because of her poor financial condition. PWNR shared her plight with Khetri trust and other local donors, and Khetri Trust agreed to support the educational expenses of Jitendra. He was admitted in Bright Future Senior Secondary School, Jaipur and is residing full time at Aashray Care Home run by PWNR.
Minakshi (Name Changed) is a HIV positive girl of 9 years age. Her parents died of HIV. After the death of her parents, one of her maternal uncles took care of her. When her uncle felt that she was a becoming a burden for him and his family, he abandoned her. The girl was then referred to ChildLine 1098. ChildLine transferred her case to PWNR and she was admitted in Aashray Care Home located in Jaipur. She is now getting regular nutritious food and also has the company of the other children. She has also been admitted into formal school and her educational expenses are being supported by Khetri Trust.
