Guwahati, March 15: Gopensing Teron grew up the hard way in his native Karbi Anglong in central Assam. Today, he and his Latvian wife Violeta Blauberga-Teron are toiling to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged children in a remote village in West Karbi Anglong district by providing them free education.

An engineering graduate in transport/logistics, the 30-year-old Violeta hails from Latvia's capital, Riga. She did her masters in production/industrial management and used to teach physics to medical students at Riga Stradinš University.

"When I was teaching at the university, I got introduced to my husband through a common friend, who was from Pune. Since then we were regularly in touch through phone, email and hand-written letters. We discovered that we have many things in common and fell in love and finally decided to tie the knot," she said.

Teron did his masters in theology from Pune.

Once they were married in 2013, Violeta delved into her personal savings to set up a school at Umpu, about 20km from district headquarters Hamren. Her instant connect with the surroundings helped. "This is a very beautiful place. Back home, we have few hillocks but here there are lofty hills and unending greenery," she said.

"My husband and I had dreamt of opening a school someday. Finally, we were able to realise our long-cherished dream when we set up the school on February 10 last year," Violeta told The Telegraph.

The school, christened Karbi Hills International School, is on a hilltop amid lush greenery.

Violeta said besides investing their personal savings, she and her husband got some financial help from their friends, family and the Church - The Seventh Day Adventist - in setting up the school in an area where schools are few and far between and people from other parts of Assam are reluctant to go owing to lack of basic infrastructure like roads.

At present, the school has classes from kindergarten to class VIII and has 99 students. "We have eight teachers, including my husband and me. We also have a hostel with 20 boarders," she said.

"I want to help children from poor families who can't afford education. We grow ginger, chillies and vegetables to raise money to run the school," she said.

"Teachers from other parts of the state are unwilling to come here because of poor road connectivity and lack of a decent place to stay or eat. In such a situation, it is heartening to see a woman from a European country settle down here and open a school," said Joysing Bey, whose seven-year-old daughter is a student of the school.

"In Latvia, teachers do not encourage rote learning and instead help their students to acquire in-depth knowledge and better understanding of things. Our teachers used to treat us as friends and we could easily approach even our principal whenever we had any problem. I want to replicate the same in my school," Violeta said.