Balaka (top) in class and Parveena. Telegraph pictures

Fulbari (Nadia), Sept. 20: A village school near the Bangladesh border has reported no dropouts since 2008 because of the diligent work of two women who volunteered to teach without charging a penny.

The teachers — Balaka Ghosh, 26, and Parveena Khatoon, 21 — have higher secondary degrees. Balaka is a second-year BA student in the Netaji Subhas Open University.

Balaka used to learn Rabindrasangeet and Parveena has a knack for recitation. “The two girls have introduced singing and recitation in the school apart from normal studies. Parents in neighbouring villages have become interested,” said Prasanta Ghosh, the president of the village education committee.

The duo and two other teachers manage 200 students in Fulbari Primary School, about 200km from Calcutta.

When Parveena comes to school every morning after crossing the border fencing, she brings nine children of the village with her.

“While going to school in the morning, I go to the houses of nine students and take them with me. That way, they can’t stay away from school,” she said.

Parveena also takes them home when she returns.

Balaka said for her and Parveena, teaching has now become a passion. “Although we don’t get money, we have become very involved with the school and its students. We are now only concerned about the school’s performance and how to improve it,” she said.

Their work has fetched results.

“Earlier, we used to have at least 15 to 20 dropouts each year. Thanks to these two girls, there has not been a single dropout since last year,” said Prasanta Ghosh.

The Fulbari school’s teacher-in-charge, Baidyanath Ghosh, said the students had performed well this year in the admission tests for high school.

“The names of our students who have passed Class IV have appeared on the first list in the high schools in Shikarpur Girls’ School, Darermath High School and Shikarpur High School,” he said.

Balaka and Parveena volunteered to teach when the school had only two teachers — Baidyanath Ghosh and a para teacher.

Unable to stem the dropout rate or manage the 200 children, Baidyanath Ghosh approached the village education committee for help.

The committee started looking for volunteers — anyone who would teach without pay.

Balaka and Parveena volunteered to join the school in January 2008.

Prasanta Ghosh said the word about the two teachers’ good work has spread to the neighbouring villages of Karamdia, Gandhina and Charalkhali and parents have brought their children to the Fulbari school from these villages. “We don’t know what we would have done without the two teachers,” he said.

Block development officer Shyamal Pal said he had heard about the good work of the teachers in Fulbari.

“We have a dearth of teachers in primary schools. These two girls are doing us a great service. They have also helped improve the school’s quality of education,” Pal said.