Murshidabad Diary

Learning Camp in Popara Village, Murshidabad

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.