Keonjhar: Eleven-year-old Pratap Majhi, a student of Class VI, puts his life at risk every day so that he doesn't have to miss classes at school.

The resident of far-flung Sapalanji village in Telkio block of Keonjhar district is one of 15 kids, all within the ages of six to 12, who board a rickety country boat every day to cross a rivulet to reach the other side for classroom studies.

The village is enclosed by a hillock and forests on three sides with a small rivulet, the Samakai, separating it from the world on the other side. The rivulet is 10-12ft deep when it swells up during the rains. In summer, it largely dries up with either knee-deep or waist-deep water. Boats, however, remain the only mode of communication throughout the year.

"We have got habituated to the boat ride. We are forced to skip classes when it rains," said Majhi.

For these children from the tribal community, it's a daily and arduous ritual. They travel by boat across the Samakai from where they trek another 500m to attend classes at a government-run primary school in Karadangi village.

Sapalanji is home to around 60 households and a population of 600. While it has an Angawadi centre, education remains on the backburner and repeated pleas for setting up a primary school has fallen on deaf ears. As a result, the children, from classes I to VII, have to cross the river for their education in the neighbouring Karadangi village, which has a primary school and high school.

Residents of the village have long sought a mini-bridge to improve the village's connectivity with the outside world.

"There is a risk of ferrying the children on boat. But we are forced to take the risk for the sake of their education," said a villager.

"We do not have a school in the village. The children know how to swim and we have left it to God to ensure their safety," he added.

Most of the villagers being illiterate, they understand the need to send their kids to school.

The district administration has also received reports of the children's daily ordeal to reach their classes.

"Building a mini-bridge over the rivulet will be a costly affair and there are no plans for it at this moment," said District Rural Development Agency project director Nrusingha Charan Swain.

"However, to redress the children's plight, we are taking up the matter to establish a primary school at Sapalnji village," Charan added.