India, Oct. 6 -- With the exception of a handful of places in the country, government schools across India have long carried a reputation for neglect. What should be cradles nurturing future generations - especially children from disadvantaged communities - have instead become symbols of bureaucratic apathy, political indifference, teacher neglect, and public silence. Last month, I visited Firozpur Jhirka in Nuh for a courtesy meeting with a local reporter. While travelling together on a motorcycle, our conversation turned to the many problems faced by residents, eventually focusing on the state of education for village children. By then, we had reached Gokalpur, where villagers lamented the poor condition of the local school building. After hearing their concerns and spending some time there to build connections, we decided to leave. On our way, my friend suggested we stop by the middle school on our route. Set amid lush greenery and the sounds of monsoon birds, the school's surroundings were idyllic. But the moment I saw the building, I was struck by the contrast -- the ground floor was freshly painted and well-kept, while the first floor looked like a haunted shell even in broad daylight. The upper level was dark, its rooms empty and crumbling, with only bare brick and mortar in sight. When I asked my colleague why it looked abandoned, he replied casually: the contractor had never built the staircase when constructing the first floor in 2016-17. Since then, it has remained unused, forcing over 500 students to somehow "study" in just five rooms on the ground floor. For a few moments, I stood staring at the building, wondering how such a situation could exist -- and how no official had noticed in nearly a decade. A teacher later told me that the contractor's payment had been withheld by the education department, and in retaliation, he left the staircase incomplete so the new structure could never be used. Officials, meanwhile, did nothing to resolve the issue, leaving students to suffer. Teachers said they had occasionally written to authorities requesting repairs, but their letters were likely lost in files. When I asked some senior, politically active residents why they never pursued the issue further, they admitted that after initial attempts failed, they simply gave up as they had no faith in the local bureaucracy to fix the matter. Over time, resignation replaced outrage. The people had quietly accepted what official incompetence and greed had made inevitable -- the continued suffering of their children....