Although former three-term Gujarat chief minister and now prime minister Narendra Modi had reportedly promised acche din (good days) for all — especially for school-going girl children — under the new BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which swept General Election 2014, his track record as Gujarat’s unchallenged chief minister for over a decade (2001-2014) is less than inspiring.
School-going children in several villages on the banks of the river Hiran, a tributary of the Narmada, in the tribal belt of Gujarat’s Chotaudepur district have been experiencing grave hazards to get to school every day. Children aged 6-13 are obliged to swim across the river — swollen during the monsoons — to get to their government secondary school on the opposite bank.
Boys usually swim across the raging river, and the girls, some adept at the art and some still learning to adapt, cling to a big brass pot, to float across the Hiran. They hold their school bags high above their head as they wade/swim across, wet to the skin.
Media reports — especially in the Indian Express (August 10) — highlighted the pathetic plight of 125 school-going children from 16 villages of Chotaudepur district, detailing their desperate urge to reach their school in Utavadi village of Narmada district.
“Since there is only one primary school in our village, children have to walk a long route to reach the river and then swim to the secondary school across the river,” says Naginbhai Baria, sarpanch of Sajanpura village. According to him, the village panchayat has been petitioning government officials and ministers “for several years” to construct a bridge over the river, with no success. “We had even approached the then roads and building minister, Anandiben Patel — now chief minister — but nothing happened,” says Baria.
After the Indian Express broke this story which embarrassed the state government, the district development officer of Chotaudepur did a reconnaissance of the 16 villages, met their sarpanches and assured them that a bridge will be built.
Educationists and teachers in Ahmedabad and Vadodara are struck by the fierce determination of underprivileged tribals in remote villages of the state, to get to government secondaries where there’s no assurance of teacher attendance and learning outcomes. The Hiran is a natural border between Chotaudepur and Narmada districts. But even after making landfall at Sewada village, children have to trek 5 km through the wilderness to Utavadi village, their final destination. Moreover they make it to school only by 11 a.m but teachers are considerate and accommodating of tribal children from across the river. When the final school bell rings at 5 p.m, children from the other side rush to the school gate as they have no time to lose before they float/swim their way back home.
In Vadodara, academics cynical about the state government’s inability to build the Hiran bridge for 13 years under Modi’s rule, wonder when the promised acche din will dawn for India’s 140 million children in government schools.
Suverchala Kashyap (Vadodara)