Collector Girish SN and (above) a teacher talk to children of the Banjara community. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug 22: Seven-year-old Arjun Singh can now afford to smile. He is one among the 46 other children belonging to the Banjara community, whose dream to be educated has now been fulfilled.

This has been possible thanks to the efforts of the district administration and the state government which have set up a temporary school to provide basic education under the Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan to the children of the nomadic community.

“Every day, I would watch small children going to school with their parents in cars and two-wheelers. I wanted to go to school, but as my parents cannot afford education, I had dropped the idea,” said Arjun.

Free books and other writing materials were also distributed to the children who will now be taught for the next three months at Quila Maidan in front of Barabati Fort here.

“We had noticed these children playing during the recent awareness programme on dengue. The parents of these children eke out a living by selling herbal products and items made of plaster of Paris. It is not possible for these children to go to school as their parents keep moving,” said collector Girish S.N.

The children of the community that hails from Rewa in Madhya Pradesh will be taught reading, writing and arithmetic in Hindi and English. Two teachers will be engaged to teach the children in two shifts — morning and evening.

Certificates will be given to the students after they complete the three-month course. The nodal officers concerned in neighbouring states would be intimated about the programme so that the children may continue to receive education when they move out from the state, Girish added.

“We hardly earn around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per month which is not enough to arrange for the education of our children. We are happy that our children will now be educated free of cost,” said Ratan Singh, 46, father of a Banjara child.