MYSURU: For last three years, eight-year-old Nayeema Khan has been the only student at a Government Lower Primary School in Krishnaraja Nagar taluk, 65km from Mysuru city. At a time when the government plans to shut schools with inadequate student strength, this Urdu medium school in Yaremanuganahalli village has been educating its lone student with the help of two dutiful teachers.Nayeema, a class III student, daughter of an agricultural labour, reaches the campus at 9.30am every day and spends the next six hours there, during which she is taught Urdu by Sabia Sultan and Kannada by Nagaraju.Yaseen Shariff, a member of the Chanamgere gram panchayat and resident of Yaremanuganahalli, said the school was established 60 years ago and was the first exclusive school set up with Urdu as medium of instruction. Earlier, the school had many students but the number dwindled as families relocated to urban pockets and some started studying in Kannada-medium school next door.The village has around 40 Muslim families and the population is around 450 with Dalits the majority community, he said. Villagers said the school was set up to cater to the local Muslim populace in the region.It’s a similar situation in another Urdu-medium school in Hanasoge village, 7km from Yaremanuganahalli. According to Hanasoge gram panchayat president HT Rajesha, only six students were admitted in the lower primary school (Urdu). The school has only one teacher. This school too was set up to educate Muslim children in the region.“Since the school was exclusively set up for the educational needs of the minority community, there’s no question of closing it down, irrespective of the student strength,” said Raju M, Block Education Officer, Krishnaraja Nagar.He added, “We’re aware that there’s only one student and the school has two teachers. It doesn’t mean that their services are going waste. Since the school is next to the government lower primary school where the medium of instruction is Kannada, they also teach there. As long as student or parents want to continue with it, there’s no question of closing it down. If there is no student, the teachers will be definitely shifted to another school.”