ASSAM: Compelled by circumstances, Ritik Sona and Rohit Tanti had dropped out of school after Class V, and started earning daily wages by plucking tea leaves. Nearly a decade later, they returned to school, thanks to collective efforts.
Ritik and Rohit (now 22 and 23, respectively)—who belong to the tea tribe community—are just two of the many “oldies” who have found a fresh opportunity to pursue formal education at Namsang TE Model School in Assam’s Dibrugarh district bordering Arunachal Pradesh. Unfortunately, Namsang—a tea belt with a population of around 5,000 people—lacks proper infrastructure. Until a few years ago, the Namsang Tea Estate Lower Primary School was the only educational institute in the region.
The nearest high school was located at Joypur (also Jeypore), 30 km away, and across the Dehing Patkai National Park. Tea garden families leading a cluttered existence with low income could barely afford to send their children to high school. On top of that, public transport has remained an issue. These factors forced children to drop out after primary education.
Noting the problems, the state government established the Namsang TE Model School—a high school—in 2022. It is one of the many Tea Garden Model Schools that the government has established across the state to support the development of tea garden communities. The government’s biggest challenge in Namsang was to bring back those who had been out of school for several years. The school, led by its principal, Debajit Ghosh (35), went the extra mile to make this possible.
“Namsang is 30-40 years behind the rest of Assam. The goal of most youths was to become a ‘babu’ of the tea garden. They had no idea people could become doctors, engineers, pilots and that, to become one of them, one needs education,” said Ghosh, a recipient of this year’s National Teachers’ Award who has an MSc in chemistry from the Dibrugarh University.
He said the school spent the first month building a relationship with the community as the aim was to bring those boys and girls who had dropped out of school back into formal education. Community activities were organised for one month. A health camp was held for parents. Games and sports events were organised for the youth. All these efforts bore fruit and encouraged parents to repose their faith in the school.
The school was started with 271 students, and only 32 of them were regular at the time. For a while, Ghosh kept the students busy in games and sports, and held no classes. That’s how the students started taking a keen interest in going to school.
“Next, we started taking a class or two. The duration of the classes was minimised. The school was meant to continue till 3.30 pm, but we never did that,” Ghosh shared.
Since the students belonged to a humble background, the school has consistently tried to help them. In the first year, all 271 pupils were provided with geometry boxes, donated by Guwahati-based cardiologist Dr Chinmoy Majumdar. Over time, the Dibrugarh Hanumanbax Surajmall Kanoi Commerce College donated 3,000 copies, which were distributed among them.
“We are teaching them English and Hindi so they can communicate with guests who come from outside the state,” the school principal revealed. Despite the education gap, several students of the school, managed to clear their Class 10 board last year and this year.
For Ghosh and other teachers, the journey to transform students’ lives has just begun.