A schoolteacher in West Burdwan’s Jamuria block has been moving from one village to another to teach his students, mostly from tribal communities, for a month now as regular classes have been on hold since March owing to the pandemic.

Apart from taking classes in open spaces, Deep Narayan Nayak, 30, the teacher at the Tilka Maji Adivasi Primary School in Jamuria, distributes among children dry food, textbooks and notebooks that he buys with his salary.

The lockdown has bared the digital divide between rural and urban students, which teachers like Nayak are trying to bridge with physical classes in free spaces, keeping in mind Covid safety protocols.

Nayak said he chose vacant fields or village roadsides for the classes. Students sit comfortably, spacing themselves out so that social distancing is maintained. They are told to wear masks, and explained why they should.

“At least 25 to 30 students are attending classes every day for over the last one month,” Nayak said, adding the school has 150 students, mostly from nearby villages.

“I keep my venue flexible, as I move from one village to another. I also try and spread awareness among parents of the novel coronavirus and how to stay safe amid the pandemic,” the teacher said.

On what prompted him to take the initiative, Nayak said he noticed that students from poor tribal families were becoming detached from studies in the absence of classes during the lockdown and had been put to work in fields.

“I come to school every week to hand over the midday meal ration among students and their parents. I’ve seen many students grazing cattle or goats, or helping parents in farm work,” he added. “I thought, we don’t know when the pandemic will end, when normal classes will resume. But by then if these kids lose interest in studies, it may increase the number of dropouts. So I am trying to get them back to their books.”

Before class, Nayak takes his students through a yoga drill, and then gives them dry food such as bread, biscuits, cakes, fruits, boiled eggs and chocolates. He spends around Rs 7,000 a month on food and stationery for his students.

Asked about this extra expense, he made light of it. “I have been getting my salary from the government without working since March. It is only my duty to do something for my students with my salary. I can’t sit at home and enjoy this period as though this is a holiday,” Nayak said.

Parents have appreciated Nayak’s efforts.

“Our kids were losing interest in studies. As we are poor and spend most of the time working, we don’t have the energy and time to spend on them. This teacher (Nayak) is taking care of what we cannot do,” said a daily wage earner, whose son is Nayak’s student.

Lakshmi Murmu, one of Nayak’s students, said she was happy to attend the class.

“I was bored at home. Here (in class) I can dance, draw and study. I also get chocolates and cakes here,” she grinned.