Govt school in Punjab's Bathinda has only one student, one teacher

Bathinda (Punjab) [India], February 5 : In a government primary school at Kothe Budh Singh village in Punjab's Bathinda, there is only a single student who is taught by a teacher.
Sarabjit Kaur, the government school teacher said that in May last year, she joined the school. Initially, when she came to the school, she felt very strange because there was only one child who came to study. The rest of the children of the village study in private schools.
The teacher narrated her experience of visiting houses in the village to convince parents to send their kids to the government school.
"I visited many houses in the village and talked to the parents to convince them to send their children to study in a government school. All the facilities are available in this government primary smart school. There is no shortage but still, the villagers consider it better to send their children to private schools," said Sarabjit Kaur.
Meanwhile, the official of Bathinda Education Department who reached the spot said that earlier a few children used to study in the school, but now only one child has been studying in this school for the last year. He is a student of fifth standard. He will appear for exams next month.
"Following the guidelines of the government, this school can be closed and shifted to some other place later. The government is spending a lot of money to educate a child. Since it is a primary school, this child will study in this school only for about 1 month," said a Bathinda Education Department official.
"There will be no students in the school after a month, leaving no point in opening the school. A complete report will be prepared and sent to the government by the Education Department, Bathinda soon," the official added further.