Where school is a distant dream

Thiruvallur: They go to school but they learn nothing. This is the irony lived by the Irulas of Vembedu, Meyyur panchayat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjKIO-enS-M

Scores of children can be found riding bicycles on the dusty stretch that connects Vembedu from the Meyyur panchayat. In their cream colored shirts and maroon pants, they race each other to reach their school situated in Meyyur village, almost three kms from their settlement.

The state of illiteracy is nothing new in this backward community. It is a lineage which has continued from generations. In fact, the present generation is the first one to even own a pair of uniform. Their ancestors used to herd sheep and their parents continue to cut trees to earn their daily living. Many also work under the Central government’s rural employment scheme, ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ (MNREGA) for daily wages.

“I wish to become nothing in life, I know I will be cutting trees like my brother”, said a 9-year-old Kannan, who had stopped going to school after completing his 8th standard. Ironically, he could not even manage a sentence when asked to write his own name. So there will be no surprise if tomorrow someone makes Kannan give his thumb print on his employment contract and Kannan would have no idea what that document mentions.

Kannan’s sister-in-law, Anjali, who got married a few months before at the age of 18 also used to attend school. Her father made her discontinue her education after she got matured. She admitted that the path leading to the school was scary to cover alone, with forests and destroyed farms on both sides.

Marriamma, who struggled to remember any of her teachers or friends’ names, had told that her sister, Pavitra, was the only person in the entire village to complete her 10th standard. Married at the young age in Uttukottai, she was not allowed to go out and earn despite the deprived condition of her family. “She was twice offered a job of a teacher at a school and another time at anganwadi but her husband did not allow her to take up that job”, told Marriamma.

Once a girl from the community was also offered a government scholarship to continue her studies but the opportunity was lost by the child to her parents’ unwillingness to make her study further. These cultural and practical issues rooted in this village make education a distant dream for many in Vembedu.

Twenty eight years old and a mother of two, was uncertain about her children’s education, who were currently attending a primary school in Meyyur. “Satish and Rekha are very small to ride a bicycle to the school and it is very painful for them to cover that distance on foot with a bag load of books.”

Many in the village also preferred their children going to work to manage the necessities. This not only made them irregular at school but also add to their disinterest in studies. The teacher at the primary school had informed that currently there were only two kids in her class from Vembedu. “We call parents and advise them to send their children to school but there is no such improvement in children’s attendance”, said the teacher.

With no one to make them revise their lessons at home, these children often end up skipping their homework. They often loiter around on their cycles during school hours when their parents are out making the ends meet. Also, the atmosphere at home plays a vital role in helping a child to learn better at school. Mr. Rajshekaran, Principal of the Higher Secondary School of Meyyur for 20 years, said, “Rural children can  have psychological or family issues and that make it difficult for them to concentrate at school.”

To help unload the burden of several generations’ backwardness, T.Nagaraj, a 14-year-old volunteer from a nearby church takes daily tuition of the school going children in the village. Where the attention of a single teacher has to be shared with so many classmates and parents occupied ensuring their stomachs are filled, Nagaraj is trying to ensure to teach these kids the basics of reading and writing.

Despite going to school, there is no difference between Kannan and his father. But the difference can definitely be made in the lives of those kids who are going to Nagraj for tuition.