Located behind the bungalow of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Commissioner at Syndicate, the school is just a small dingy room which houses four classes—from Standard I to IV. As for infrastructure, there are two cupboards and five blackboards—with two walls serving the purpose.

A student received an electric shock after touching a broken switchboard recently and big burrows were filled only last week after a rodent allegedly bit a student, says principal Shamim Bano.

KDMC Commissioner R D Shinde said, “The school doesn’t belong to us.” When told that a board outside and the records in the civic body show that it’s a KDMC-run school, he said, “I would look into the matter.”

When contacted, the administrative officer of KMDC Education Board, T N Supe, wasn’t sure how many civic-run Urdu-medium schools were there. Initially, he said two. But when countered, he said 12, of which “six are till class IV and six till class VII”.

When Newsline visited the school, students from all the four classes were appearing for their drawing examination, hardly getting any space to freely move their arms.

Apart from the proper infrastructure, the school requires one more teacher, a request which has been pending for the past several years, said Bano.

‘Girls failed to prevent early marriages’

Bano said five girls from the school were being purposely failed so that their parents don’t marry them off. While boys are allowed to pursue further studies, girls aren’t, she said.

“Parents here marry off girls at an early age as it reduces the number of dependents. My girl students are as old as 19 and some of them are mothers of three,” says Bano.

“To avoid their marriages at an early age, we have failed five girl students. Jitna Yaha pe rahenge kuch to sikhenge. Varna inke maa-baap unki shaadi kar denge and phir kam umar me bachche ho jayenge (the more they will stay here, the more they will learn. Else, their parents will marry them off and they’ll become mothers at an early age),” adds Shamim Bano.

Bano cites the example of a 12-year-old girl who has been studying in standard IV for the last three years. A 13-year-old has been in standard IV for the last two years while another 12-year-old, now in standard IV, took two years to clear standard III.

The parents of these girls are workers in the Kalyan market and can’t afford their studies. “The students here hail from the Indira Nagar slums and their parents are extremely poor. Students are compelled to give up studies after they pass out from standard IV. We want the school upgraded till Class VII,” says Bano.

“The parents do not send girls to other schools for two reasons. First, the journey between the school and home is a long one. Secondly, they can’t afford the cost of travelling,” Bano adds.