A Literacy Evangelist In Remote Latardih

Daily wager Lalmuni Munda is a happy man. For, now he can send his only daughter to school. What had hitherto been "unthinkable" - there is no government school in his village Latardih, 25 km off Ranchi - has become a palpable, tangible reality. This tale of realising the impossible obviously owes to a good samaritan; Radha Khakha, the local visionary who gave concrete shape to her dream and hopes of the local tribals. Lalmuni is not alone. Every resident of Latardih is grateful to Khakha's endeavour. Wife of an ex-serviceman, Khakha, who is in her late forties, had for long nursed the idea of imparting education to poor tribal children. And this finally led to the opening of Bhavna Vikas Vidyalaya in godforsaken, back-of-the-beyond Latardih.

The school, which began two years ago under a large mahua tree with just 25 tribal children, now has a mud building with three rooms and four teachers. Its current student strength is 200 and one can study here till class VII.

The vidyalaya is quite remarkable in that even children from government schools in nearby Olidih and Hahab areas cover a 10-km stretch through hilly terrain to attend classes here.

Former serviceman Anirudh Singh, who helps Khakha in running the school, says: "Though we haven't received a single penny from either the government or any private quarter till now, we provide books, clothes and sometimes even stationery to our students so that they can attend classes without having to negotiate basic hurdles." The school, if Singh's to be believed, also has an incentive mechanism in place in order to encourage education in this backward region of the country: "We don't charge tuition fee from those students who come to classes regularly. And believe me it has worked wonders. The attendance is nearly 100 per cent in all cases." Despite their achievement, little help has been forthcoming. Though Khakha has approached the Bihar Education Project (bep) a number of times for some assistance, "nothing has come till date".

Acute scarcity, however, has not deterred Khakha. She is currently trying to build an annexe to the school, with help from none but the villagers who give her their labour for free. Says Khakha: "The important thing is that we've been able to make them aware, at least, of the importance of education in their lives."

That, however, seems to be the most insignificant of all the obstacles her project has had to negotiate. The problems which currently plague it are of more serious consequence - the school lacks basic facilities like electricity, drinking water and toilets. And false assurances are all that Khakha and her well-wishers have been able to collect from the local MLA and MP.

The school has four teachers - all local youths on a monthly salary of just Rs 300. Avers she: "Initially they all began teaching for free. It's only recently that we have started paying them this meagre sum and that too not on time. They don't bunk school even for a single day and that's really commendable."

Jadunath Munda is one of the four teachers. A matriculate, who lost both his legs in an accident while working as a daily labourer for the forest department, he currently teaches English at Khakha's vidyalaya. Dimburaj Munda is Jadunath's colleague - a teacher at a nearby government high school, he takes time off to teach at Bhavna Vikas Vidyalaya. Besides, he has also donated 2.5 acres of land for the expansion of the school. Explains Dimburaj: "I do it all for the benefit of my people who are non-literate and poor."

While thanking the villagers for their cooperation, Khakha rues that sometime ago a thug from a nearby village had tried to take over the school land and building but the villagers, mostly Mundas, forced him to retreat. Visibly pepped up, Khakha now plans to open more schools in other inaccessible villages like Budri, Veyandih and Sapah, continuing with her plan to educate the most "uneducated, unfortunate and poor" people of the area. Anyone who wishes to contribute to her endeavour to spread literacy can contact her at Church Lane, Pathal Kuduwa Road, Ranchi, Bihar. Her telephone number is: 0651-204673.