At Government Primary School, Miani, the school bell does not always mean the beginning of the teacher’s day. For the lone teacher posted at the school, it can also mean stepping out of the classroom and going door-to-door to bring children to school.The school has remained a single-teacher school for several years. With 37 students on its rolls, the teacher manages the entire school on her own, from teaching children of different classes to maintaining records and attending to other school-related duties.What makes the task more challenging is that a majority of the students belong to migrant families. Their parents, who have come to the village from different states in search of work, are mostly employed as labourers. With parents leaving home for work, sending children to school regularly is not always a priority.The teacher, however, has refused to let this become a reason for children staying away from the classroom. Whenever some students do not turn up, she visits their homes and brings them to school herself.For the children, she has also found a simple way to make school more appealing, the mid-day meal.The teacher often tells them about the meal being prepared that day and talks to them about different dishes on the menu. The excitement around the food, coupled with her personal efforts, helps persuade some children to leave their homes and attend school.For a teacher already handling an entire school single-handedly, making home visits to bring students to class means taking on yet another responsibility. Yet, she continues to make the effort, particularly because many of the children come from families where parents are daily-wage workers and have little time to follow up on their children’s schooling.The situation also highlights the difficulties faced by single-teacher schools, where one teacher has to divide her time between classroom teaching and administrative responsibilities. Teaching multiple classes simultaneously, looking after school records, ensuring the functioning of the school and keeping track of attendance can be demanding.Despite these challenges, Jasvir Kaur, the teacher, has kept the school running and, more importantly, continued reaching out to children who might otherwise remain away from education.For her, bringing a child to school does not end with taking attendance. It begins with making the child feel that there is a reason to come back the next day.In Miani, therefore, the teacher is not merely waiting for her 37 students to walk through the school gate. She is sometimes walking to their doors first.Manoj Kumar, deputy education officer, said, “I will direct the officers to deploy an associate or any teacher from the village with the help of the panchayat of Maini village.”