Description of the school

The school takes up two cement buildings that are joined by narrow walkways on each of the four floors. It is located in the city of Patna, but the students come from the surrounding agricultural villages. The top floor is known as the terrace, and it is covered on one side—this side serves at the auditorium, the cafeteria and kitchen, and a multi-purpose room. The other side is uncovered, and is used for drying clothing, playing, and also contains Manoj’s family’s quarters. Manoj is the supervisor of the school. He pretty much runs everything. He oversees the cooks and the guards, he appears to be the head disciplinarian, he maintains the attendance book for teachers, he assigns coverages when teachers are absent, you get the idea. The other three floors contain a mix of dormitory space and the classrooms. The small library and the director’s office are on the second floor, as well as a small room for faculty to take their breaks.

The school has students in grades Kindergarten through 8th plus a 10th grade class. There are 250 students total, but they are not divided evenly among the grades. There are 49 students in the Kindergarten class, about 45 in 1st, 45 in 2nd, 39 in 3rd, 21 in 4th, 18 in 5th, 16 in 6th, 9 in 7th, 3 in 8th and 4 in 10th. The school has been open since 2007, and has admitted about 50 students per year. At the beginning they had trouble recruiting students (families preferred to send their sons to work) so they had a mixture of ages that has now sorted itself out into the upper classes. Last time they offered the entrance exam 1000 students sat for 50 spots, hence the higher numbers in the lower classes. Each of the grades has a classroom where they are based, and the teachers move between them. The classrooms each have a large dry erase board, a teacher desk, and student desks. Some have a map of India and some additionally have a world map. There are no other supplies in the room. Students spend a lot of time each day in the classroom, with classes from 7 to 1:20, then self-study from 3-4 and again from 7-8:30. The dormitories are assembled with students from each class so that the older boys can look after the younger ones. At morning meeting they form lines by dormitory, with the youngest students in the front.

There are 11 teachers, with about 2 per subject. There are 8 periods in the day, and most teachers teach all 8 periods. There is a half hour breakfast break for students and teachers in the morning and then a 10-minute tea break just before noon. The school runs Monday through Saturday year round with a 10 day holiday at Christmas. Consequently, teacher absenteeism is a real problem. On any given day, one or two of the teachers is absent and a few more will step out to run errands throughout the day. On two days during my first week more than 4 teachers were absent. In the case that coverage can’t be arranged (more often than not) the students remain in their class on their own. Some study or complete homework, but many fall asleep or talk to their neighbors. They do not, however, get out of their seats. Even on the one day this week when all teachers were present, I found many teacher-less classrooms as I walked through the buildings.