Lalita, a shy 15-year-old girl is a household name in and around Sherpur village nearly 60 km from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. For two years, she was the lone student in her village’s government girls’ middle school, which has since become famous as Lalita ka school (Lalita’s school).

Lalita had completed her primary education in a neighbouring village where her father, Madan Lal Girwal, a class IV employee in the public works department, used to work. When she joined this school, in 2007, she had 22 classmates. But soon all of them either dropped out or joined the private school in the village. This left Lalita all alone, and her parents in a dilemma...

This first appeared in the January 16-31 issue of the Governance Now magazine, (Vol.01, Issue 24).

Read the full story in the attachment below.