In The Shade Of The Banyan

Now in his 60s, you can still spot Kalyanbrata with a motley group of about fifty children, teaching them arithmetic tables, counting and what have you. His crusade began in 1971 after graduating from Calcutta University. He decided he wanted to help those who could not get help from any quarter. The idea was to locate a community forgotten by the local government. He identified Kadapara. Soon, he befriended the seniors of the Dalit community and came to know of their fruitless efforts to start a school for their children. Kalyanbrata took it on himself. He went from pillar to post for aid. But no organisation or administration was receptive to his ideas of running such a school. So he invested whatever funds he had and started a centre for government school dropouts.

It has been a solitary journey since. Whether it is arranging for second-hand books from kabadiwalas or organising tiffin for the children, there has been little or no support. Initially, the community was hostile to the intervention of ‘a stranger with vested interests’. But gradually, the situation changed. First, the mothers were motivated and then the number of children increased. Not all of them were dropouts. Kalyanbrata decided it was time to start a pre-primary school. This was way back in 1976-77. But luck betrayed him. The political situation was volatile. Emergency had been declared. The government in West Bengal had changed. When the new government took office, in 1978, Kalyanbrata applied to the primary school board for registration, but was denied. "If you don’t have political clout, nothing works. I’ve witnessed this time and again," he says.

The Left government had publicly endorsed 100 per cent literacy in the state. But their noncooperation left Kalyanbrata thinking, "I thought it was a people-friendly government but it was an eyewash." Every expense his non-formal education centre incurred came from private tuitions or the sale of small plots of farmland back home in Midnapore.

But Kalyanbrata would not submit. Instead, he became popular and stories about him spread. Bharati Das heard about him and came to join as a volunteer. They later married. Bharati had a B.Ed degree and was acquainted with novel methods of teaching. Learning through nature was one such method she introduced. The proximity to nature helped. The locality had a huge water body with lots of trees. Children were introduced to the flora and fauna in their surroundings. Bharati also made teaching aids from recycled products after her training from another NGO, Vikramshila.

But funds were always hard to come by. Kalyanbrata and his family moved into the slum. He applied to different organisations but no help was forthcoming. cry supported him for two years. But soon after, he was left in the lurch. How would he manage the education of 500 children who were an integral part of his two non-formal centres? One fine day an idea struck him: Why, they could supply plants to the nearby posh areas of Salt Lake City! It worked. In no time, the children were organised into groups and today they’ve earned a reputation of being a reliable source for plants. In fact, this venture has helped sustain the education of 500 children to a large extent.

Catch up with Kalyanbrata at: Sevak Nagar, 89, Narkeldanga Main Road, Calcutta—700054. Tel: 9831907925.