The village in Chatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh has no school building for last three years, forcing the students to resort to studying and taking their classes on the roadside.

There are four such schools in the area that have not been constructed, and thus classes are held on the roads.

According to the teachers and students, the midday meals are also not being served on time and no actions are taken for the cleanliness of toilets, which also lack water.

After closely surveying the situation of education in the district, it was revealed that the ground reality of education is contrary to the claims of the education ministry. The locals from the area have also informed media outlets that Bagrajan School, which is one of the four schools, is also conducting the classes on the road.

“There is a constant fear of accidents because of classes being conducted on roads, and the students have been waiting for a school building for three long years,” one of the students named Chhotu was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

Another student said that the school has also not been providing food for some days now. On being questioned if they are served food in proper utensils, she said that they have to get their own utensils from home.

“The classes are organised on the road, and during hot days and rains, they have to make arrangements accordingly,” adding that they have to sit under the sun and let the children sit under the shade, which poses a risk to their health, but they still try their level best to teach them,” Abdul Haq, a guest teacher, was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

Assistant teacher Rajendra Goswami said that a bypass road nearby poses a great risk to the safety of students, who have to be looked after constantly.

He added, “We are continuously shifting classes depending on weather conditions, and have rented a room for the same. While students are running around, teachers also have to run after them to ensure their safety which risks the lives of both students and teachers.”

HS Tripathy, who is the District Project Coordination officer, was reportedly not informed about the deplorable situation. Opposing the claims of teachers and students, he said that the arrangements of midday meal had been made inside a building. When he was asked about the lack of midday meals, he claimed that he was not been informed about the problem and would comment only after proper investigation.

He further spoke about the lack of school buildings and said, “There are four schools like Bagraajan. We have already submitted 50% of the fund towards the construction of school building, and have contacted the construction agency Nagar Palika Chattarpur that informed that the tender has been called and soon the work will begin.”

He said that the total fund for the project is Rs 12,12,000, however, the delay has been caused due to the lack of completion of the tender process, even though the agency has made tender calls twice.