Ratlam, Bhopal:
It was Shashi Tharoor who got the middle class incensed and the cattle class famous by his insouciant remark, when he said: "I would travel the economy class out of solidarity with the cattle class."
He, like any, would be horrified to know that there are real students actually studying alongside real cattle. Young students here at Devapada, some 350 kilometres from Bhopal have their classes peopled with them.
They have a stable for a classroom and animals and poultry for company.
"There is no sitting facility for us; also, animals are tied here when we study. The animals at times kick us and also attack us with their horns," said Shaitan Singh, student.
Not quite the encouragement students want but something they have to put up with.
There's no roof either. So, when it rains, the students have to run helter-skelter and classes are often called off.
But to top it all, the District Collectorate finds nothing wrong with it.
"When I went to the classroom there were no animals tied there. I even enquired with the villagers, they told me that during the school timing the animals are left in the village to graze," said Collector Rajendra Sharma.
Despite the Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan, which aims to ensure all children complete five years of school and have access to good quality education, this is the reality across India.
About 10 million primary age children remain out of school and some independent surveys have shown that half of all children in the 7-14 age group cannot read.
This school was meant to have its own building but the Collector accuses village heads of embezzling funds, and also questions the state government's claims of having built primary schools every three kilometres in rural Madhya Pradesh.