First lady Chand Farhana at the child cabinet programme in Ursuline Convent. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, April 25: Most children in Sweta Kumari?s village do not go to high school, because there is none nearby.

The ones that do, walk 10 kilometres to the nearest one. ?It?s a long, painful walk,? says the Class V student from Middle School, Chaibasa, who adds that most children in her village finish middle school and then stay at home.

Sweta?s observation was one of many at the child cabinet today involving 14 students from government and middle schools, who discussed issues such as distances, the lack of teachers, laboratories, toilets and the like.

Students from Deoghar, Dumka, Chaibasa, Jamtara and Jamshedpur assembled to form a cabinet at Ursuline Convent. Former chief secretary Lakshmi Singh and first lady of the state, Chand Farhana, chaired the cabinet.

It was organised by Christian Children Fund to celebrate Global Action Week .

Md. Imran Hussain, a Class VII student, faces the same problem as Sweta. ?Most of us belong to the middle and lower classes. We cannot afford transport,? he said. The student from the Millet Academy suggested that computers be included in his school?s syllabus, so that students can keep up with the latest technology ?like the private schools?.

Gopal Kumar has a problem with the animals that graze around his school. ?The boundary wall is broken and the animals uproot trees that have been planted,? he says.

Gopal is in Class V and goes to the Government Middle School in Chandil. His school has only one tap. ?There is huge crowd where seniors manage to drink water, but the smaller children are unable to, as a result they are unable to concentrate during classes.?

Mukesh goes to Middle School, Deoghar ? a school with two rooms and 650 students. He says it?s hard to concentrate.

Getting textbooks on time was a common problem faced by students. The session starts from April and books do not arrive by September and most students are unable to finish the syllabus. The teachers try to manage the books from the former students, but that, too, is a very limited number.

At the end of the deliberation both women felt that the problems were indeed grave as schools in the remote villages are devoid of basic infrastructure.

Later, the schoolchildren also submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Syed Sibtey Razi, and requested him to solve their problems.