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| Learning Camp in Popara Village, Murshidabad |
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| Selima (left) and Tuktuki |
I went to the village
of Popara which is not far from the town of Sagardighi in Murshidabad. A learning camp
had been organized in the village – newly appointed BRG members of Pratham
Bengal were running the camp – this was a part of their training process. A
short ride by a rickshaw-van and then we entered the village by foot – it was a
typical Murshidabad hamlet – mud huts with an unmetalled dirt road running in
between – filthy with goat droppings strewn liberally, the roads were flanked
by pools of muck with ducks swimming in some of them.
The learning camp was
being held in a local school – one of the 2 primary schools in the village. 2 local girls – Selima and Tuktuki – work as
volunteers in that village. On this day as the BRG members were taking the
classes the 2 girls stood by watching the whole process. Along with the girls I
also watched the learning camp in progress. After a while I started to converse
with them. Selima is around 17 years old. She appeared in her Madhyamik Exams
this year – however she failed to clear one paper and will be writing that
paper next year. Tuktuki or Muksura Khatoon has a similar situation – she
failed one paper in her Higher Secondary Examination this year and will be
repeating the paper next year. So, both have a year’s time in hand. They decided
to use this time by doing something worthwhile and have become Read India
volunteers. My conversation with Tuktuki and Selima was illuminating in many
ways. Both Tuktuki and Selima come across as mature young girls – very
practical and down to earth – they candidly admitted that they do not feel
motivated to continue with higher studies though the parents of both the girls
are very keen that they do so. When I probed for the reason, Tuktuki – the
older and more gregarious of the two answered that there is no point in going
for higher education when there is no assured job at the end of it. They went
on to share that other youngsters are similarly disenchanted with the fact that
even a college or university education is not a key to guaranteed employment. And
in this village of Popara – in the Sagardighi Block of Murshidabad you come
across lots of graduates and holders of masters degrees who have joined the
glorious ranks of the educated unemployed. On the other hand as Tuktuki reveals
there are those who have discontinued studies while still in school and have
migrated to the big cities such as Bombay, Madras and even Trivandrum in search
of employment. They are mostly men who work as masons and tailors and earn
anything between Rs. 5000 to Rs. 20000 per month.
Tuktuki’s words
find resonance in a recent report which came out
in “The Telegraph”. According to the report (May 9, 2012) about a lakh people
from Murshidabad are working as masons and daily labourers in the South Indian
states. The same report quotes Mr. Abdul Bari Mollah – chief of Panchayat
Samiti of Nawda Block of Murshidabad – “The district of Murshidabad doesn’t
have any industry, there are no jobs. Also there is no university and the
number of school dropouts is high. So there is a tendency to go for menial jobs
in other states.”
Selima and Tuktuki share that the quality of
teaching in the schools they have attended is extremely poor – their teachers
have hardly been a source of inspiration for them, classroom teaching does not
generate much interest in the subjects and thus young people do not develop the
love for learning or a fascination for any particular subject as in these less
than inspiring situations youngsters do not find any stimulus which will propel
them to go for higher education or choose a subject for specialization. Most of
them opt for Humanities – Bengali, Sanskrit and Philosophy being the most
preferred subjects – not because of any particular love for the subjects – more
due to the fact that private tutors teaching those subjects are more easily
available. So education becomes essentially just a task to be accomplished – at
the end of which hopefully there will be a job. Tuktuki provided another reason
why their parents insist that they complete their education – apparently girls
who are better qualified are more in demand in the marriage market. However she
adds that high qualifications still do not guarantee a good match until the
parents are able to pay substantial amount of money as dowry. Apparently the
minimum dowry to be paid by even families of the most limited means is Rs.
50000.
One of the
children attending the learning camp in Popara was a little girl named Bilkis.
Before starting the learning camp the children were tested to ascertain their
existing learning levels. Bilkis – studying in class 3 – was asked to read a
paragraph which she did with ease and then she went on to read a short story
without stumbling – watched by her proud parents in the courtyard of their
home. Bilkis’s father – Abul Kalam Azad – a visually challenged gentleman – is
a teacher at the Islamic Trust Education Project run from Saudi Arabia. A
native of Burdwan he has settled in Sagardighi, Murshidabad as his wife is from
this region. His work is also in Burdwan so he stays there most of the time and
comes to live with his family in Murshidabad during the holidays. He has 5
daughters – the oldest around 17 years old and the youngest about 4 years of
age. After the learning camp got over we went to Mr. Azad’s house and were
invited in for tea. Mr. Azad asserted that ensuring that all his daughters
complete college education is at the top of his priority list.
Being from the
field of academics himself he shared some of his ideas regarding the status of
primary education in the villages. He feels that the present system is bound to
fail and that the midday meal scheme is the biggest scourge affecting the
system as this leads to a shift in the focus from learning. He held that
teachers should only have to deal with teaching and not be involved in
logistics affairs. Also he felt that it is wrong to look upon education as the
means to attain something – a job, better marriage prospects etc and that, children
should attend school for the joy of learning. Once the quality of teaching
improves children will attend classes of their own volition and there won’t be
any need for sops like midday meals. These 2 different encounters with people
of different age groups brought home a message which gave plenty of food for
thought – the teacher is the key figure who can make the difference in the
quality of education that children get. Though Mr. Azad would disagree the
Midday Meal scheme has ensured that children attend school every day – it is up
to the teacher to ensure that he/she creates a world in the classroom which
will be so attractive to the children that they would not want to leave.
