126 years old & forgotten: All 38 SSLC students of pioneer Karnataka school fail

Bengaluru: Once a shining jewel in the crown of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML) High School was a trailblazer: It was one of Karnataka's first English-medium aided schools. In its heyday, people would line up before dawn to secure an admission application for their wards.Cut to the present: It finds itself among 144 schools in the state with the unenviable distinction of attaining zero pass percentagein SSLC this year. None of the 38 students who appeared for class 10 exams managed to clear it, down from 18% last year. In fact, all students failed in Hindi, and only two scraped through in science.The results weren't surprising for insiders. The high school section has 86 students and only four teachers. Nandini, a class 10 student, said: "We didn't have a Hindi or science teacher. Our maths teacher would teach science in between the classes.For Hindi, our headmaster managed to get a teacher from another school one month before the exam. Even though they were helpful, we couldn't pass."Worse, the BGML Higher Primary School, on the same campus with classes 1-7, has no teachers for its 80 students. The single teacher it had last year has now retired."The children are from deeply underprivileged backgrounds and broken families. There is absolutely no support for them. Since this is the nearest school in their neighbourhood, they come here. Everything is absolutely free. The students don't pay anything," said in-charge headmaster Malathesha G. "But the children are really weak in studies. Many of them do not even know how to write sentences. They need a lot of hand-holding."The in-charge headmaster is the last person standing who was employed by BGML. The others have retired. Having been with the school for 28 years, he now uses his personal money for the children. "The children here need help. The department has deployed three teachers who come in a few days to teach. But that is not sufficient. Our request is that the govt take over this school as soon as possible. It has so much potential to improve," said a teary-eyed Malathesha.European connectionIt was started as a private school by the Europeans in 1899, at a time when they started Kolar Gold Fields. "The Kolar Gold Field School, as it was then called, was meant for the children of British officials and followed the Senior Cambridge curriculum. Exams were held here, answer scripts were sent to Britain for evaluation, and results were declared from there," said Malathesha G, the in-charge headmaster.Brighter sideThe school has a physical education teacher, who spends three days in the school and the rest of the days in another govt school. The school, therefore, has a thriving football team and volleyball team. The team plays at the division level, and a team member is part of the state under-16 team.