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Dr. Saban Patralik grew up in a poor family, and realized the importance of education at an early age. Due to the death of his father, he had to stay at a friend’s house in a nearby village in Bihar for his studies. He had little money at the time, however, so he made sure that he studied well and completed his PhD in Hindi.
The 44-year-old became a teacher in 2004 and says his focus has always been on teaching as many children as possible. Since 2015, he has been the Principal of Dumarthar Utrkramit Madhya Vidyalaya (Developed Medium School) in Dumka, Jharkhand. But in 2020, when the country was under lockdown, Saban spent sleepless nights thinking about how to educate his students who don’t have smartphones.
“I was very worried, as it took a lot of effort to get these children into school. I was afraid that these children would drop out, get married or worse – go to work. That’s when we put up the blackboards on the outside of the mud houses. Saban says: We have been able to continue educating every child from 2020 to 2022.”
It was this thought that led to an entire village strewn with black paintings.
Four teachers, including the principal, took charge of four different areas and divided the students among themselves. Use a megaphone to maintain social distancing. The children were doing tasks on the board, and each child had a board, chalk, and duster to themselves. Children also write their doubts on the board, which the teachers will take up.
“We maintained social distancing, wore masks, and used disinfectants. I’m glad this blackboard model worked for these kids and their education remained uninterrupted,” says Saban.
“Educate our elders”
When the schools opened in February 2022, Saban began to think about how to use these blackboards that were spread across Dumarthar – a tribal village, where most people are engaged in manual labor or farming.
“My idea was to use these blackboards even after the students started coming to school. In the past two years, when we used to take class at each child’s doorstep, I got to know very well the elders of the house as well. I wanted to educate them to make them aware of the importance of education,” Saban says.
Saban surveyed 80 homes in the village to find that of the 430 residents over the age of 18, 138 were not literate.
In the next Bal Sansad Closet (Children’s Closet), Saban asked the children if they were interested in the education of their parents and grandparents. The overwhelming response was “yes”. After also asking the adults if they were ready to learn, Saban put a plan in motion.
The children would teach their elders to write on the board whenever they had time.
This could be after school when their parents come home or on a Sunday. Since March they have been teaching them to write their name, the name of their village, and how to read letters and string them together to make little words.
Most children are first generation learners. In the city, parents come with great pride to drop their children to school. In this village, that is not the case. First, she worked to improve school attendance. When I joined in 2015, there were fewer than 200 children. Today, there are more than 300 in our school. Now, my goal is to make these parents aware of the importance of education so that they too can be proud of their children,” Saban says.
He is of the opinion that only when the elders realize the importance of education, they will not drag their children into work or marry them early. Many of Saban’s students are now enrolled in colleges as well.
“Look, by teaching them basic words and letters, they won’t get a certificate. But they will learn. Education is for life. If they’re interested in learning more, we’re always there to help them. Education is the only way to get ahead in life,” Saban says.
Saban has also learned the local language, Sinthali, in the past two years to teach seniors numbers, letters and words.
Pawan Lal Murmo, the ward councilor of Dumarthar village, and his wife are examples of the newly enrolled pupils of this village school. Another villager, Ravi Manji, told The New Indian Express, “It’s a proud moment for all of us that our grandchildren are making us literate.”
Education is the greatest weapon to eradicate poverty.
His next focus is on the education of children under the age of six, as Dumarthar Anganwadi does not have one, and the school accepts children from the age of six. To ensure that children know basic numbers and letters when they come to school, Saban has written them all over blackboards and electric poles in the village, in Hindi, Sinhala and English.
“According to Nippon Bharat’s mission, every child in the country should have attained literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the end of primary school by 2025. To achieve this, basics must be taught starting at the age of three or four. Since there is no Anganwadi, I wrote the basics all over the village, in the hope that the children, as well as their parents and grandparents, will read and learn. I want the child to know the basics when he enters school on the first day of the first term,” Saban says.
The school and its principal have received many awards for their efforts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised this initiative in his book Mann ki Baat in January 2021, with Osaka University in Japan appreciating the blackboard model. The school also gets the Swachh Vidyalaya Award on this Teacher’s Day for being the cleanest in Dumka district.
Saban says he is the richest man in the world. “Every time I teach a student, I feel like the happiest and richest man in the world. Because there is nothing so fruitful as education. Education is the greatest weapon to eradicate poverty. I have experienced it in my life,” says Saban.
sources
“A rural teacher instructs children to teach grandparents By Mukesh Ranjan for The New Indian Express Posted on August 23, 2022
Edited by Yoshita Rao
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