Students of the Machkhian Government Middle School in Kaimur district don't have a bridge to get to school safely yet, but on Sunday they got brand new schoolbags, shoes, socks, geometry boxes, pocket dictionaries and other educational material -thanks to the same NGO that had last year given them a boat to cross the Durgawati river.
In 2015, The Telegraph had highlighted the plight of the students, who had to swim across the river to reach school from the villages on the other bank.
After the report, Calcutta-based NGO Lions Club International had arranged for a boat, which the students still use.
On August 3 this year, Kaimur district magistrate Rajeshwar Prasad Singh visited Machkhian, around 200km southwest of Patna, on chief minister Nitish Kumar's directive and promised a bridge over the river..
On Sunday, several Lions members from Calcutta, Agartala, Cuttack and Patna distributed the educational material among around 200 students of the middle school and its adjoining high school.
"We distributed the educational material among the students from class VI to X at a simple event held on the school campus," said Prabir Sah from Agartala, a member of the club. "Apart from the educational kits, we also planted 500 saplings of different varieties of fruits on the premises of the institution."
The club had invited local district administration officials for the event, but they did not turn up. "They might be busy in preparations for Independence Day," said school headmaster Bhupendra Nath Singh.
All teachers were present despite it being a Sunday, the principal added.
"The members of the club were generous in gifting the boat, which is used for ferrying the students from their home to school and back," he said.
The students were excited with the gifts. "Like students of other public schools, I too will come to school in uniform and carry a schoolbag containing educational kits on my back. I have experienced it for the first time in my life," said Priyanka Kumari, a Class VIII student.
Class VIII student Garima said: "I have repeatedly been asking my parents for a schoolbag, shoes and socks but they couldn't afford them. I am grateful to those who have fulfilled my long cherished wish."
Alok Singh and Aman Kumar, both students of Class X of the high school, said the gifts were a dream come true for students of the remote villages that lack basic amenities.
Anand Kumar Jain, a Lions Club member who travelled from Calcutta on his second visit to Kaimur, said two big dustbins have been donated to the school to inculcate a sense of cleanliness among the students.
"If they learn such things in school, they will practise it at home also. The day is not far when they will compel their parents to do so," he said.
Other members of the club like Sanjay Awasthi from Patna, Sudha Jaiswal and Binay Singhania from Calcutta and Sanjay Santuka from Cuttack accompanied Anand to the village.
The students and local residents have long been demanding a bridge so that the children can go to school safely.
When Kaimur district magistrate Rajeshwar Prasad Singh visited Machkhian, around 35 km west of Kaimur district headquarters Bhabua, on August 3, a team of engineers and officials of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam accompanied him. The DM had asked them to submit a detailed project report within two weeks.
