To what lengths will a school or teachers go to ensure their students do not drop out of school? In a bid to make it convenient for their student to attend school regularly, a primary school in Telangana has been allowing a student to tie his goat in the school premises for the last three days while he attends classes.
A photo of the student feeding his goat in the school premises is being shared widely on social media, with a comment on how teachers are making unheard compromises to retain students. The story was initially reported by P Pavan of Mumbai Mirror.
The school is located in Jangampally of Gadwal district and the picture of the student was captured on Tuesday by volunteers of MV Foundation, a welfare organisation working for children’s rights.
Teachers had noticed that B Mahesh, a bright student from class 5, had been irregular to school for a few days. So the school headmaster Kanthaiah and two other teachers went to Mahesh’s house to check why wasn’t he coming regularly to school.
On being questioned by the headmaster, the boy’s father B Narayana said that he and his wife were not able to look after their goat, as they had to go out every day to work in the cotton fields in another village. Left with no choice, they made Mahesh stay back from school and look after the goat.
Seeing the helplessness of the parents, the headmaster took Mahesh to the school along with the goat. He assured Narayana that Mahesh could bring the goat along with him every day to the school so that he wouldn’t have to skip classes.
Speaking to TNM, Kanthaiah said, “Mahesh is a bright student. Not just him, we wouldn’t like to lose any student. After hearing the problems of his parents, we had to take this measure.”
He added, “The goat is being tied here in the school premises for the past three days. Mahesh looks after it during recess and takes it back after school. Arrangements for water for the goat is also being made. We don’t know how long this will continue, but as long as the student comes to school, it is fine with us.”