Rajasthan students attended school with cattle. Now, CJP spotlight and Rs 18-lakh upgrade

An “unsafe” school building, a shared space with cattle, a single-room structure, and now the promise of a Rs 18-lakh upgrade. Government Primary School, Rampura-Kanwarpura, has learnt a valuable lesson in maths the past few days: all it takes to multiply things is a few crosses.

Within days of a Cockroach Janta Party protest putting the spotlight on this school that abuts the state capital Jaipur, 18 students and their parents are hoping their wait for a building since an older one was declared unsafe a year ago may finally end.

After cameras caught students attending classes with four cattle tied nearby, they were moved the next day into a room loaned by a fellow villager. Following a government directive restricting outsider entry into government schools, the two teachers on duty refused access inside the room, or to talk to the media, on Tuesday.

This morning, Dhori Bairwa sent her two sons only at 9.30 am to the school, though classes begin at 8 am. It was raining and the floor on which the students sit can get muddy. While Bairwa’s husband works as a helper at a store, she works as a daily wager.

Thankful for the attention that could change the fate of the primary school, and of her children, Dhori says: “We are sending our children here because we have no other option. Private schools charge at least Rs 1,000 per month.” Another parent, Vijay Singh, who has a daughter in Class 5, is hopeful that given the spotlight, more changes in infrastructure will follow.

Chota Devi owns the room into which the school has moved now. Her three children, who are all adults now, studied at the same school. While two of them are married, a daughter is preparing for government recruitment exams.

Chota says the condition of the Government Primary School was well-known to all. “Even the original school building was about 30 years old, and it was villagers who had donated the land for it so as to have a school nearby.

In all these years, its condition had been deteriorating. Around four years back, a portion of the roof started leaking. Then, after the July 2025 incident in Jhalawar, when a school building collapsed killing seven children, the authorities locked the building and shifted the students.” This was the structure which the students were using when the CJP visited on August 21, leading to a scuffle allegedly with some BJP workers.

Leela Kumari, both of whose daughters studied at the school, says when the original building came up, they were very happy. “We got together to construct it as our children didn’t have anywhere else to go. We thought it would be upgraded over the years, to at least Class 8.

But nothing happened. In fact, the school kept getting worse. Students left, many choosing private schools.” Since Rampura-Kanwarpura is located on the outskirts of Jaipur, there are multiple private schools within a 5-km radius, many of them with transport facilities.

The closest government school, which is up to Class 10, is 4 km away, past an under-construction road and a bridge. The old school building is now abandoned, with paint peeling, the colourful lettering and murals fading, a scaffolding put up to prevent the roof from collapsing, and construction material dumped next to walls which talk of Swachh Bharat.

If there was any furniture, there are no signs of it.