In a tribal village of Jharkhand, teachers and students overcome the challenges of Coronavirus by attending classes in open air spaces, following social distancing norms. By Amrendra Suman
Schools and colleges, after being shut for over six months due to COVID-19, will now be allowed to open from October 15 albeit in a graded manner as announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs, MHA on September 30.
While releasing the guidelines for phase five of the unlock, it allowed states and UTs flexibility to reopen schools and colleges. The decision, however, needs to be taken on a case-to-case basis, after consulting the institute management and assessing the situation, it said. Parental consent will also be required. Earlier, these institutes were allowed to partially reopen from September 21, 2020 as MHA had permitted students of classes nine to 12 to voluntarily go to schools for seeking guidance. Even during that time, many states had chosen not to reopen the school while the states that did allow students on voluntary basis, did not receive positive response from parents. Clearly, they were not ready to send children back to school even as education of 300 million students has been severely affected. In remote villages of the country, however, the picture is unexpectedly, a little different.
In a tribal village in Dumka district of Jharkhand, which is inhabited by the Santhal tribal community, parents and students are showing positive response to the efforts of the school administration to provide education in a safe environment to its students. In Bankati village, located just nine km from the district headquarters amid forests and surrounded by lush green fields, students can be seen studying under trees strictly maintaining the norms of social distancing. Teachers stand at a distance reading out lessons using a microphone and a sound system.
“With imposition of nationwide lockdown, schools were shut, and teachers were advised to provide lessons online. Here, in this nondescript village, where people cannot afford two square meals, expecting them to have smart phones and internet was unrealistic,” shared Shyam Kishore Singh Gandhi, Headmaster, Upgraded Middle School, Bankati. He further explained that parents in tribal villages seldom allow their children to return to school after a long break owing to the financial constraints.
“The whole situation was understandable — the lockdown and suspension of the classes but I could not make peace with the fact that the effort of so many years of creating awareness towards education in this tribal village will go waste. Teaching is my religion, and I felt really uncomfortable sitting at home doing nothing about it. As I kept thinking of ideas to overcome the hurdles, the idea of teaching in open spaces ensuring appropriate distance between students struck me,” shared an excited Shyam Kishore.
What started as a tryout soon became a norm as students too showed interest and started attending classes regularly. Today, a total of 250 children from class one to eight are consistently attending classes in open air spaces, following social distance rules and maintaining cleanliness and hygiene. Wearing mask is mandatory for each and every student while regular sanitisation also takes place. Children come and sit on both sides of the road at a distance of one meter as villagers help organise the classes.
The initiative is also backed by different members of the tribal groups. Community teachers Sarita Murmu and Murshila Tudu along with several other young teachers have contributed effectively to the task. These young, educated minds were sitting idle at their homes owing to unemployment. Their dedication to improve the quality of education for the younger generation was evident during these tough times as they chose to support the initiative without any financial interest.
“Most of the villagers rely on agriculture for their income or are daily wage labourers. Due to low socio-economic status, villagers often involve their children in agriculture work during vacations or force them to quit education to work as labourers. Due to COVID, many parents had decided to discontinue the education of their children but since the beginning of these community classes under the trees, they have changed their mind,” shared Sameer Marandi, Village Head.
Masoodi Tudu, a senior officer from district administration, during his visit to Bankati village said that such creative adaptation by the teachers to face the challenges created by unprecedented circumstances will further strengthen the faith of students and parents in education. Certainly, the efforts of the teachers and enthusiasm of children speak volumes about their yearning to learn and grow.
—Charkha Features