PATHANAMTHITTA: Online classes are a distant dream for tribal students residing in forest areas in Ranni. Realising this, their teachers now reach the ‘ooru’ (tribal hamlet) braving the threat posed by wild animals to ensure that tribal students do not miss out on their classes.
It is the five teachers of Government Tribal LP School, Attathodu in Perunad grama panchayat in Ranni, who undertake the arduous journey to the tribal hamlets. Headmaster of the school Biju Thomas said that the school has 40 students, 38 of whom belonging to tribal communities.
“Most of them belong to the Malampandaram tribe and 27 students do not have mobile phones. So, we decided to visit their ‘ooru’ and teach them. First, we met the parents of the students and mooppan(chieftain) of the ‘ooru’ to make them aware of the importance of education.
After that, we brought the students to a common area in the tribal hamlet and taught them. We received a good response from the students. We started this initiative from Wednesday and we will continue this effort till the state government decides to resume regular classes. After reaching the tribal hamlets by 10 am, we taught a group of tribal students for at least two hours,” he said.