A 20-year-old college student from a forest village in Jalpaiguri district has come forward to teach local children who often miss school.
Children of Bhelordanga, located on the far edge of the Gorumara National Park, often return home mid-way as they find one or more elephants standing on the road.
The village is near the Jadavpur tea estate of Ramsai in the Maynaguri block.
To help the children continue their studies, Kusum Munda provides them with free tuition every afternoon. Kusum is the only woman from among the 20-odd families of the village who studies in college.
A second-year student of Mainaguri College, Kusum teaches the children like Sanjan, Pari and Uddip, who study from Class 1 to Class IV, from 4pm to 6pm.
All of them go to primary schools in Ramsai and Kalipur, located two to three kilometres away.
“We can’t go to school every day. Often, elephants are standing on the jungle path, so we’re too scared to go. That’s why we come to Kusum didi to study,” said Pari Munda, who is in Class III.
Sanjana Munda, who is in Class IV, said their parents worked on the Jadavpur and Ramsai tea estates. So, the children walk to school alone.
“Many times, we have seen leopards on the way and have run back home. Out of six school days a week, we often miss three or four days for fear of elephants and leopards. So, we come and learn from her,” said Sanjana.
Kusum’s house is on the very edge of the village. Since she goes to college herself, she teaches the children on the veranda in the afternoon.
Around two years back, she started to keep the children, who often can’t go to school because of wildlife threats, connected to their studies. Inspired by Manoj Das, a teacher at Maynaguri Singimari B.Ed College, Kusum gained the courage to begin teaching the children.
“Manoj Sir also helped me financially. Since then, I have continued the practice, and whether help comes or not, I return from college and start teaching right away,” said the college student.
When she doesn’t have college, Kusum works in the tea gardens herself to earn money for her personal expenses. Sometimes, the money she earns from plucking tea leaves goes into buying chocolates and biscuits for the kids.
Kusum feels sad seeing how children have to cross rivers and jungle paths in groups to go to school, only to be turned back home because of the presence of elephants and leopards.
“I am worried as the tin-roofed shed in front of her house, where she started her first informal classroom, leaks during rain. That’s why I teach on the veranda now of our wooden tin-roofed house. I wish I could repair the shed…. I could have accommodated some more children then,” she added.