BHOPAL: A government school teacher in Madhya Pradesh, assigned to track out-of-school children and get them enrolled in schools, has ended up reuniting an estranged tribal couple – to ensure that their two daughters are enrolled in the nearest school.
This development was reported from Bajrang Garh village under Rampur Naikin block of eastern MP’s Sidhi district recently.
Dharmendra Parihar, who is in charge of the upper primary school in Bajrang Garh village was surveying out-of-school children in one of the parts of the village, where he found that a tribal labourer Manoj Rawat, had two daughters – Ajanavi (6) and Arti (5) – who were out of school.
When he met the daily wage labourer and enquired about why the two sisters weren’t enrolled in the school, Rawat informed that a few months back, owing to a quarrel with him, his wife had left him and was living along with both daughters at her parents place in adjoining Shahdol district.
“Though the situation was quite tricky, I convinced the two little girls’ father to accompany me to his in-laws' place in the adjoining Shahdol district. We travelled around 50 km and reached the village housing the parental house of Rawat’s wife,” Parihar told TNIE.
According to Parihar, both Rawat and his wife were reluctant to forget their differences and patch up to secure the academic future of their daughters.
“But Rawat’s father-in-law was convinced by my advice and after hours of counselling, the estranged couple finally decided to reunite for their daughters’ sake. The woman returned to Bajrang Garh village with her two daughters, after which we ensured that they got enrolled in the upper primary school at the earliest,” Parihar said.
Both the girls were not regularly attending classes at the school and the parents after shelving differences are ensuring that their daughters don’t skip school.