Government Middle School at Urdu Bazaar in Darbhanga. Picture by Mukesh Kumar Jha

Students at Government Middle School of Urdu Bazaar in the district are not punished if they come late to classes because their principal rarely reaches the institution on time to check the pupils.

Following their superior, the teachers also come in as and when they please, said sources. They can also go home early, as there is no timetable for classes.

Rajiya Khatun, a resident of Urdu Bazaar whose children study at the school, told The Telegraph: “When the school opens at 8am, the students are first asked to clean the rooms before classes can commence. There is no timetable for the teachers or students. They come when they want to. At times, the classes get over by 11.30am, at other times by 12noon, depending on the wishes of the headmaster or the teachers.”

She added that the number of teachers at the school was far less than required. “There are five teachers for more than a hundred students,” said Khatun.

Like her, most parents who send their children to the school are either poor or uneducated. As a result, they are unable to question the school authorities about their alleged wayward functioning.

The block education officer of Urdu Bazaar, around 150km northeast of Patna, Pratap Narayan Singh, said: “According to new norms which have come into effect since August 6, all government schools in the district are supposed to start at 8am and close at 2.30pm. The new rule was advertised in the media. At the block level, I conducted a meeting on August 1 with the principals of all the schools to inform them about the new timings.”

The principal of the Government Middle School, Asha Bharti, however, claimed that she was unaware of the new regulation.

“We have not been informed about the new timings by the district authorities,” she said. “A fortnight ago, at a meeting conducted by the district education officer, we (principals of government schools) were instructed to ensure that schools conducted 45 hours of classes each week. But we were not given any timetable. We had to decide how to take the required number of classes.”

Asked why her school closes at midday, Bharti said it was a one-off incident. “On Saturday (August 11) we closed the school at 11.30am as the teachers and I had to go to meet the education minister (P.K. Shahi) who was in town. I had read about the introduction of a new timetable in the newspapers but no time was mentioned.”

She added: “Those who claim that there is no discipline at the school are malicious. We closed the school at 11.30am as we did not know the rules.”

The authorities on the other hand claim that the principal was the anomaly to the rule. Singh said: “If all the schools are aware of the new timings and are following them, why can’t she? It means that the principal of the Government Middle School at Urdu Bazaar is not following the rules deliberately. We will inquire into the matter soon.”