Darbhanga: Each day at the Triveni Sanskrit Middle School starts with the Chetnasatra (awareness session) which involves children to clean the campus and classrooms followed by Saraswati Vandana and Sarva Dharma Prarthana.

Sanskrit is a favourite subject of a lot of students. However, what is different is that a noticeable number of students that come here to learn Sanskrit are Muslim - exemplifying communal harmony.

Though the campus has a few rooms with bamboo roofs, the cleanliness and discipline among the children is quite noticeable. At first look, the school seems more like a private school.

"Once the then DM of Darbhanga, Balamurugan D, was on his way when he saw this school and asked his orderly whether the school was private or under the government. Knowing that the school was under government jurisdiction, he was surprised and stayed here for more than half-an-hour and left happily," said Baidyanath Jha, a retired headmaster and member of the School Management Committee.

Jha said the school was established in 1950 at Raghunathpur village of Hayaghat block in Darbhanga district, nearly 8 km away from the district headquarters. Jha said around 70 per cent of the population in the vicinity is from the Muslim community who send their children to the school.

The headmistress of the school, Aarti Kumari, said among the 120 registered students, more than 30 per cent are Muslims who attend school daily. Aarti said the School Management Committee has also arranged co-curricular activities like computer training, Madhubani painting and tailoring classes for the children.

Md Saeed Ahmad, sends her daughter Shazia Praveen to the school. Shazia, a student of Class VIII, covers 12km daily to attend school. She said: "Though it takes me more than two hours to come to school, I get to learn a lot. I like the tailoring classes. My English has also improved."

Parents believe it's the best school when it comes to quality of teaching. Md Chhotey, whose children study here, said: "The standard of education here is such that it brings out the best in our children."

Aarti added that students have performed exceptionally well in various block- and district-level competitions.

"It comes naturally because they are free of all divisive thoughts. We have only three rooms with bamboo roofs but we want to instil good qualities in the students."