British tourists with the schoolchildren they helped. A Telegraph picture

Dibrugarh, June 21: Till the other day, Jokai Borbam Tengani Primary School in Dibrugarh district was just another government institution, the cracks on its walls and the rickety roof speaking of years of neglect.

Today, the 60-odd students are attending classes in a new building with a well-equipped library, thanks to a group of British tourists who happened to pass by last year and decided to help.

The Britons noticed the pathetic condition of the school during a rural sightseeing trip in Upper Assam. Moved by the plight of the students, they not only sent funds but also extracted a commitment from their UK-based and local tour operators that a part of the profits from each batch of tourists visiting the district would go towards development of schools there.

?It was a very kind gesture. Now we have good classrooms, playing equipment and a well-stocked library. Attendance has also improved as the students do not want to miss school for a single day,? headmaster Robin Sonowal said.

Vinita Jalan, one of the directors of local tour operator Purvi Discovery, said the Britons were on horseback and enjoying the natural beauty of Jokai, a cluster of villages 10 km from Dibrugarh town, when they came across a small hut in which children were being taught. ?The tourists at first did not believe that the hut was actually a school,? she said.

On returning from the sightseeing trip, they discussed their experience with their tour operator and expressed their desire to help the school.

?The group was very serious about it, but we knew that the district administration had to approve of the idea. Thankfully, the authorities gave us the green signal,? recalled Jalan.

The then Dibrugarh deputy commissioner, Niraj Verma, ensured that the donation from the British group was used judiciously by packaging the amount with the government-sponsored Sarba Siksha Abhijan.

The UK-based tour operator, In the Saddle, has since been periodically making requirement enquiries from Purvi Discovery, which consults the school authorities and draws up a list. Purvi Discovery has also been trying to help other schools in the area. ?Our aim is to give tourism a humane face,? Jalan said.

Riding Holiday, the tourist package that brought the Britons to Dibrugarh, is a collaborative venture between Purvi Discovery and In the Saddle. Foreign tourists arrive in batches for the novel experience of a horseback ride along the sandy banks of the Brahmaputra, tea garden-lined tracks, rural areas and forests.

The London tour operator ensures that each batch of tourists pays a visit to the school it has been helping.

Jalan said some tourists had expressed a desire to help train local communities in handicrafts and other income-generating avenues like poultry and animal husbandry.