
Dhaingarpur students attend a class at a nearby school. Malkiat Singh
Aakanksha N Bhardwaj
Nawanshahr, October 1
Three huge classrooms, a computer room with four computers, a big playground, projector — Government Middle School (GMS) Dhaingarpur in Nawanshahr has it all, but there are just two students.
There are classrooms for classes from VIth to VIIIth, but Gurjot Kaur and Harman Kaur are the only two students studying in class VI. Both the girls cleared class V from Government Primary School, Dhaingarpur, and then joined the middle school.
“It feels weird to study in a school where there are no fellow students with whom we can play and spend time,” the girls added. The school has one permanent teacher who teaches all subjects to these students and then, there is another who comes once a week on deputation.
As per the information available, the permanent teacher has now gone on maternity leave and the two students are now studying at government high school, Malikpur, which is nearby.
The Tribune had highlighted that last year, Harish Kumar was the only class VIII student in the school. After he passed out, just two girls were admitted to class VI in this session. There were 12 students in the school two years ago. Deputy DEO Rajesh from Nawanshahr said that he would take up the issue with the higher authorities.
Student strength reduced to two
There used to be 40 students and proper staff in GMS, Dhaingarpur, around five years ago, but as the teachers got transferred with time, the pupil strength dipped. Now, there are just two students at the school.