Learning from children in Sonbhadra (U.P.), India

As a part of my project monitoring field visit, I had to stay back in a tribal area of Sonbhadra. While sun sinking slowly into beautiful forest hilly tracts; on the way, the local organization took me to a village called ‘manbasa’. Few elders have gathered by noticing us and started talking to us. There was a mob of children staring at us from some distance. I just walked towards them with curiosity, wish to have some chit chat and few of my companions have made them sit across to us on an old ‘palang’ (a cot without bed sheets) open in the street.

After introductions and a lot of laughing, our interaction turned some what serious. I asked a girl what she wants to become. She told that she wants to become a teacher as soon as possible. I asked her becoming teacher is fine but what is the ‘matlab’ (matter of) in ‘as soon as possible’. She tells that there is no school in another 30 villages after this one and most of children don’t have opportunity to even learn reading and writing and if she quickly becomes a teacher, she can go into any of those villages and start teaching them. I was gripped by silence for a minute. I changed the topic and this time, I chose to talk to a small boy who looked very shy. I asked him where his home is, he pointed to a small house at a distance with his finger. I asked him don’t you have pucca houses in your village. He says he doesn't want live in pucca house. I asked him, “why?”, He asked me ‘’are you educated?’’, while staring at me. I took two seconds and said yes. ‘‘Then, don’t you know pucca houses are harmful to the environment?” he asked. I felt slapped but excited. I spent more than an hour with them. Every child gave me at least one such shock. It was an amazing experience to see tomorrow’s citizens growing with great ideals and values in that lush green forest unlike children who study in metropolitan corporate schools.

Is this not the real education?. In that area, there are hundreds of such children studying in schools run by Banwasi Seva Ashram. The Ashram deserves great honour. We need more such organizations in the country, in the world.