For Varanasi’s flood-hit children, the walk to school is now just a few steps

At 8 am on Monday, 10-year-old Ayan put on his school uniform, picked up his bag and walked into his classroom at the Government Primary School. For the past week, the school building in Varanasi’s Saraiya has also been Ayan’s home.

He, his parents and his six siblings are among 10 families who moved into the school after floods in the district drove them from their house. He, his parents and his six siblings are among the families who moved into the school after floods drove them from their house.

That morning, he joined 11 other children for a lesson taught by principal Bhaiya Lal Singh and two other teachers. “There’s excitement every day getting ready for class — we play games and study too. I love staying here,” Ayan said.

Inside the classroom, desks and benches have given way to white sheets spread across the floor, where barefoot children sit cross-legged in front of Principal Singh who occupied a red plastic chair. Mothers in dupattas sit near the windows.

Stainless steel cooking pots and food provisions are stacked in open wall alcoves, while personal belongings line the walls beneath faded educational charts. “The school is home to 10 flood-displaced families, said Principal Singh said.

“Classes are running at the scheduled time.” It is one of 22 relief camps across Varanasi where the administration has made arrangements for children to continue studying. Together, the camps are sheltering 2,675 people, including 663 children, with the Basic Education Department deploying a teacher to each camp.

Another teacher, Shiksha Mitra Aftab Alam, has been travelling about a kilometre from Government Primary School in Saraiya, where he is posted, to teach eight children at a madrasa turned camp. The children, aged between seven and 10, attend from 8 am to 2 pm, with Alam teaching them according to their respective classes.

“These children aren’t from the school where I’m posted. Many fled to the shelter without their books or copies, so we’re arranging those for them as well,” said Alam, 40, who has been working as a Shiksha Mitra since 2007.

At a camp housing families from flood-hit Nakhi Ghat, Mohammad Sayeed, 51, has been teaching 11 children aged six to 10 for the past two days. “I’m enjoying how this teacher teaches us — it’s different from how we’re taught in school.

I’d like to stay a few more days at the camp because the facilities here are good,” said 12-year-old Aisha. Sayeed, a primary school teacher from Chohara who is ordinarily posted at City Girls Inter College in Alipur, said the children are all from different schools.

The Ganga was flowing at 70.12 metres at 4 pm on Sunday, below its warning level of 70.26 metres, according to the Central Water Commission. Around 11 localities in the district have been partially affected by the flooding, officials said, with families displaced by the swollen Varuna being moved to safer locations as needed.

Among those sheltering at the relief camps are 23 pregnant women and 107 elderly persons. A doctor has been stationed round the clock at each camp, while police personnel, including women officers, have been deployed for security.

“Different government departments have been assigned specific responsibilities at the relief camps, and we are taking all possible steps to ensure that people staying there have access to proper facilities,” said Additional District Magistrate, Varanasi, Dr Sadanand Gupta.