BHAWANIPATNA: A visit to the Trinath Temple near Bhawanipatna on any given day of the week is bound to throw up a strange sight - a group of students attending classes within the temple premises. This Shiva temple in Raisinghpur village is not just home to the deity, it has been serving as a school for 23 students for the past 10 years.The Raisinghpur New Primary School, established in 2008, was to have been set up on a parcel of government land outside the village.The school and mass education department, under which the school falls, had granted funds to the tune of Rs 6.44 lakh in 2008-2009. As the land was situated far away from Raisinghpur, the authorities decided to shift the school to within the village. A 20-decimal patch of land, also belonging to the government but claimed by the villagers as their own, was chosen for the school by the revenue inspector.Due to the dispute over the land, the school building was never actually built. Thus, from its inception, the school - which has classes from I to V and comprises 23 students, three teachers and four blackboards - has been working out of its unlikely home from 10 am to 4 pm, six days a week."We come to the school regularly and it becomes difficult for the teachers to take classes as there is only one room in the temple here. Had there been a building, we would have read without any problem," said Prem Karuna, a Class V student.Damayanti Barik, the mother of a Class V student, said the future of the children were at stake. "The biggest problem the kids face is while eating the midday meal. The food has to be prepared in different houses in the village as the school does not have a building of its own. Not only is this a logistical nightmare, it also brings up the question of hygiene," she said.The cook of Raisinghpur New Primary School, Kadambini Mishra, echoes Damayanti. "It is so difficult to cook in a different house every day. Worse, the children have to eat under the open sky in the temple verandah," she said."We are trying to do the best we can under the circumstances," added headmaster in charge of the school, Pratap Kumar Panda.The Kalahandi district project coordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , Gabakhya Nayak, said a new proposal for the construction of the school building at a cost of Rs 10 lakh had been sent to the government. "However, construction can only begin when the dispute over land ends," he added.President of the school management committee, Jatindra Singh, explained that the dispute over the 20-decimal land had led to the school building's construction being stalled.On being asked, he could not specify when the dispute would be resolved. "The revenue inspector had chosen the land. It is up to the state government to resolve the land issue," was all he was willing to say.

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