Imagine a ‘Green Pathsala’ (free village school) coming up on a two-bigha highland or island on the Ganga tucked away in a non-descript habitation in the Malda district of West Bengal called Subhanitola.
An almost one hour work out in small hand rolled vessels (locally called khosas) and mechanised boats are the only means of transportation and communication to this highland.
The Ganga has swallowed 64 mouzas covering 267 square kilometres of area throwing the future of 5 lakh people to the winds and the gods.
But such natural ravages are not enough to scare away the habitants of Subhanitola, mostly Muslims, as they stand rock hard and straight to build a school by a handful of urbanites led by a journalist from Kolkata.
About 1.20 lakh people now inhabit these highlands that emerge out of nowwhere and are often created after the ravages of the Ganga. These people could not even number how many times they had been upstaged from their homes because of flashfloods.
‘Diyara,’ as these highlands are locally called, is devoid of all basic amenities of a civilised life and yet people inhabiting them think of a greater and a brighter future for their kids by sending them to this Green Pathsala.
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“If you can’t admit my child because of age, admit me so that I may learn to teach him in future. We lost our homes to the Ganges but we feel the necessity of education,” says a mother carrying a two-year old in her arms.
The village school has classes from I to IV. Till now, around 50 students have been admitted and are being taught by two teachers of nearby villages. Sarjatun Khatun is a bachelor of arts (B.A.) and Firoza Bibi has just passed her school final examination.
“Around Rs 50,000 has been invested in setting up the school as seed money. We have no promoters, but we have the conviction and vision that our dreams will be fulfilled,” says Milan Datta, a journalist from the Kolkata-based ABP group and a key member to the venture.
The initiators have opened a bank account with the local Kashimbazar Branch of Bank of India. They, however, are yet to get the school registered. Says Datta: “we hope to complete the process soon."
Ironically, the state government’s apathy to accept these islands or highlands that have been created on the Ganga as part of the West Bengal mainland and therefore takes the government its eyes off in providing any facilities to inhabitants.
‘Diyara’ habitants are not considered to be the residents of West Bengal.
Jharkhand, located on the western bank, however, is keen to accord them the status of residents. Jharkhand representatives are trying to foist Hindi as an educational medium, to a community speaking Bengali for ages.
While the tussle goes on, inhabitants at Subhanitola try finding a meaning to education imparted at the Green Pathsala. According to Datta, “We planned to admit 40 students in the first phase, but were forced to increase it by 10 as the residents would not let us go without teaching their children.”