Kota, April 17 -- "Teacher kaun banega (who'll become a teacher)!"

Since his childhood, this question has been ricocheting around in Saurabh Raj's mind, watching his father toiling away at a government primary school in Bihar's impoverished Kaimur region. Every day for the past 23 years, Saurabh's father - one of only four teachers in the school for around 250 students across eight classes - struggle to make the best out of broken furniture and airless classrooms, often failing to keep the largely poor pupils from dropping out and joining their parents in the fields or in construction sites to add a few more rupees to the family income.

In this region, where per capita incomes are almost a ninth of the national average, mid-day meals ar...