KOZHIKODE: Any query on Government Lower Primary school, Byraikulam, is likely to draw a blank from local residents, who remain totally ignorant about the actual name of the institution. They merely know it as the school for children of migrant labourers. Other than migrant workers, no one else sends his/her children to this particular school.
Further contributing to its existence as an educational institution perched on the periphery of collective consciousness, the strength of the school has come down to a mere four students now, thanks to Covid fallout.
“I joined the school in 2014 and it had only seven students then. All the students hailed from migrant labourer households of nearby Naithyattuparambu settlement. There were times when we had just one new admission. But later, we went to each house there and explained to them the importance of getting formal education. During the 2020-21 academic year there were 35 students. We have students from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. Uttar Pradesh native Hosen Syed Malik is the PTA president,” said headmaster additional in-charge Geo Jaison. He said that the children of migrant labourers first came here around 10 years ago.
“After the area became an industrial belt and there was an ensuing rise in the number of migrant workers, there was a sharp decline in the number of local students. The migrant labourers wanted a safe place for their children till the time they were done for the day. Teachers have to employ a combination of Hindi, English and Malayalam to engage these students, especially in Class I.
We are trying our best to prepare students for LSS scholarship examination and secure a rank for the school,” Geo Jaison explained. West Bengal native Vijay Sonkar, whose two children are presently students of the school, said, “Many left Kozhikode following the Covid crisis and they did not return. We admitted our children to Byraikulam school because they can study there in the company of Hindi-speaking community and it’s quite affordable.”