Here is a story of the school children regarding their school in Rajasthan. A group of 30 children in the ages of 6-14 gathers every day in the middle of a graveyard at a madrasa in Dholpur. There the kids were seen looking attentively at the blackboard leaning by a bamboo tree.

School In Graveyard:

This madrasa has been in operation for 13 years. Every day, the kids leave their footwear at the gate of the graveyard and travel through the graves to reach their classroom. The graveyard is in the backyard of a mosque where the children are not allowed inside.

The children learn lessons in muffled voices to avoid offending the caretaker of the mosque. The mosque is very big enough that the children can accommodate, but a warning has been issued that ‘entry of children into the mosque would be equivalent to polluting the mosque.’

“Playing is a luxury here. They cannot even speak loudly. In fact, some influential devout Muslims have objected to the kids being at the graveyard, saying that their presence could be disturbing the graves,” said a local.

According to the locals, the state has offered to shift the madrasa to a different place. As the place is far away and may result in dropouts, teachers here are unwilling to shift the madrasa. As the days are passing, the space in the graveyard is shrinking; teachers are worried that they may not have any space to even walk around.

On days when a burial takes place, classes will be suspended. There are around 60 children in madrasa but not more than 30 manage it on any given day, most of them are attracted by mid-day meals. The property is registered under Rajasthan Waqf Board. This place of learning comes under the madrasa board which gets grants and aid from the state government.