COIMBATORE: It was Savitribai Phule and her husband Jyotiba Phule who started the first school for women in India. She was not even 17 at that time, but knew the value of education in shaping young minds, in inspiring a nation to achieve. Years later and miles away, a group of young girls in Pollachi and Sholayur are carrying forward the legacy of Savitribai Phule – by teaching kids who do not have access to infrastructure or schools.
Narikkalpathy is a little tribal hamlet that lies beyond Pollachi. S Ranganayaki and S Loganayagi, twin sisters who hail from this hamlet, are pursuing their third year diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) from a private college. Now, with schools and colleges shutting down due to pandemic, students in this hamlet are among those worst hit. They have no access to internet, smartphones, or computers for online classes. The sisters, watching students losing out on learning, decided to do what they could to change the situation.
Today, for close to fifty students in that hamlet, Ranganayaki and Loganayagi are their new teachers. “Online education is impossible in our village. So my sister and I started this Malai Nera Kalvi Maiyam (evening school) in the front of my home last month,” says Ranganayaki. For those without the privileges of modern learning technology, street lamps are still the best friends.
“At 6pm every day, around 56 students assemble under the street lamp in the front of our home for the two-hour-long classes.” Initially just a handful of kids showed up, says Ranganayaki. But, soon the word spread and many more started coming. “I teach English and Mathematics for kids in classes 1 to 6. Loganayagi teaches Science and other subjects for students in classes 7-11. Tests are conducted regularly to assess their performance.” The sisters do not stop with just academics.
Other interests such as arts and skills such as public speaking are inculcated in the young children. “Like at school, we also maintain an attendance register to ensure continuous learning.” These twin sisters are not alone in this noble cause. S Sandhiya, who is studying Class 12 in Pollachi Municipality High School, has been teaching around 20 children from two tribal settlements in Thammampathy and Kallankuthu.
Similarly, S Anamika, a tribal student hailing from Sholayur, a little settlement on the border with Kerala, has been teaching languages to around 15 students. S Anamika, a tribal student in Sholayur, located in the TN-Kerala border, just a km away from Palakkad in Kerala, has been teaching basics in five languages to around 15 students. Anamika said, “I was studying Class 8 in a government school in Trivandrum, staying in a hostel.
When the lockdown was announced, I came back home, With no facilities like electricity, internet, smartphones, etc available, I could not attend the online classes given by my school.” “This made me think about other children like me. I decided to conduct classes for underprivileged students in my neighbourhood. My father helped me convert our thatched-roof house into a small classroom. We also put in a blackboard. So far 12 kids are taking my classes, where I teach them basics of Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, German, and English.
Besides, I have also been also been helping them with their lessons, and teaching them handicraft and singing. “The kids like these activities and show interest in attending the classes regularly,” she says. Anamika’s father M Sudheer says, “If adequate facilities are made available in tribal schools, students would study well and happily go to schools. Due to the poor infrastructure, teachers do not come to school, and tribal students have been dropping out of schools every year. The State and Central governments should take steps to create all facilities, and enhance the quality of tribal schools across the country.” Youngsters like these girls are enthusiastically doing their part to uplift their villages, in the hope that the officials will do the rest.