(Top) Amal Samanta, one of the two students of Syedpur Shiksha Niketan High School, in his classroom. The school in Tamluk (picture above) is adding a floor after getting a grant under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Telegraph pictures

Tamluk, April 10: Two students, two teachers, two classes — that’s Syedpur Shiksha Niketan High School in Tamluk that barely works, but gets central grants because it exists.

The government-aided school in this town is over four decades old but has only Classes V and VI. The two teachers posted there have been appointed by the School Service Commission.

But Suniti Mondal and Sati Prasad Jana hardly have to teach — they just sit and read on most days — because Firoza Khatoon of Class V never comes, and Amal Samanta in Class VI only sometimes.

Nobody wants to send their children to the Syedpur school because it has only Classes V and VI. “Parents are not interested to send children to the school because it has only two classes,” said Dipankar Roy, the East Midnapore district inspector of schools (secondary), Tamluk.

The school managing committee is led by Nandadulal Chakraborty, a retired schoolteacher. The other members are the two teachers and three farmers who had donated land for the school. There are no guardians as members of the managing committee as there are only two students. In other schools, the secretary of the managing committee is generally elected from among the parents.

The school was started in 1970 for students from Class V to Class VIII because of the initiative of some residents of Tamluk town. In 1974, the education department recognised only Classes V and VI. As a result, Classes VII and VIII were discontinued.

“When the two classes were recognised by the government, there were nearly 200 students but gradually the number dwindled because parents found it difficult to admit their children in Class VII in other schools,” said an official at the district inspector’s office.

Managing committee head Chakraborty said he could not pursue the matter of getting recognition for more classes from the district inspector’s (DI) office. “Also, it was not possible for us to keep visiting the education department in Calcutta with our demands,” he said.

District inspector Roy said the school managing committee should have tried harder to get recognition for higher classes. “They should have played a more pro-active role. It is their lack of initiative that is mainly responsible for the state of the school,” he said.

The school had a headmaster, Sasanka Sekhar Gharai, till last year. But he was transferred and Mondal was made the teacher-in-charge.

Sources in the district inspector’s office said around Rs 50,000 is spent to pay the two teachers every month.

“Also, as the school is government-aided, it is eligible for funds under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (a central scheme to universalise elementary education). Last year, the school got Rs 3 lakh for construction of the first floor, which is being added to the single-storey building. In 2008-09, the school got Rs 4 lakh for construction of its building. Earlier, it was run from a tiled hut,” the official said.

Teacher Jana said: “We only teach Amal. When he is absent, we spend the day reading.”

The teachers said they pleaded with the district inspector’s office last week to either upgrade the school or post them elsewhere. “How can we stay as teachers in a school with almost no student?” asked Mondal.

Roy said: “We have forwarded their plea to the directorate of school education.”

Tapas Kar, who owns a furniture shop and whose sons study in a school 3km from Syedpur, said: “We wanted this school to be upgraded so our children would not have had to go too far to study.”