The ‘teacherer shallow’ is the only boat service that comes from the mainland to the char in early morning. As there is no Government service to connect the char dwellers with the rest of the world, teachers hire these sallow-pump engine fit country boats to different chars that take them to and brings them back from the char in the evenings, spending a considerable amount of their hard earned money in the process.

“I have been working here since 1993. I have my own house in the char, but decided to shift to Dhubri town to ensure quality education of my own children at a higher level. We have a group of six teachers who stay in Dhubri town and work in different schools of Chalakura char. We together hire a boat to carry us daily paying `7000/ from our own pocket” says Nur Islam, the Head Master of the 1616 No Chalakura LP school. He alone took the responsibility of providing education to all 282 students enrolled in the school, till recently, when the Government appointed three young teachers who had passed the Teacher’s Eligibility Test (TET), namely Harit Ch. Das, Tikendra Nath Sharma and Kushol Koch last year. The amount of Rs.7000/ is shared by all six teachers coming from the town, he adds.

While teachers consider it their prime duty to bring the children to the premises of the school, children at the ground in contrary are reluctant to attend their classes. Most of them get ready for the school only when the teacher, after alighting from the ferry shouts their name asking them to come to school immediately as he walks to the school.

“We have a group of six teachers who stay in Dhubri town and work in different schools of Chalakura char. We together hire a boat to carry us daily paying Rs.7000/ from our own pocket”

Dhubri district as a whole has 480 chars (small isles or islands created by river Brahmaputra and its tributaries, mostly fragile yet fertile lands of Assam) and over 30 per cent people of the district that has a total population of 19.48 lakh, live in these chars. Most of the chars lack the basic infrastructure like connectivity, education, health and electricity, hence the socio - economic conditions of these isolated pockets are very low. Most of the chars in Dhubri have educational institutions only up to the upper primary level. After completion of education up to this level, they have to move out to schools located in urban areas like Dhubri town if they want to continue their study, paying a daily fare of Rs.20/ for commuting in a machine - fit boat. As the chars are considered to be the most backward areas in terms of socio - economic conditions in the State, very few parents wish to spend this amount of money in the name of education for their children. Obviously, the encouragement from the family to continue education is very low.

The normal practice is to engage the girl - children in different household as well as income generating activities while they are already in school. In Chalakura char every girl is entitled to make low - cost decorative jute products, after coming from the school, which is one of the main income generating activities. Beedi - making, incense stick making are some of the activities in which girls are often engaged to work to earn a tiny amount of Rs.10/-15/ a day.

“However, the parents of a drop - out girl prefer to marry her off as soon as she leaves the school.  Hardly 30 per cent of our girls in the char areas can go for higher education” says Mumtaj Begum, a teacher of Majher Char - Chalakura ME Madrasa School.

As girls are engaged in these acactivities, young boys mostly prefer to migrate to city areas to work and in searching for petty jobs like construction labourers and as others, after completing education up to upper primary level.

“The school drop - out incidence after completion of upper primary level education could have been checked to a great extent, if we have at least one high school in every char,” says Hamida Khatun, the Head teacher of 1077 No. Majher Char LP School, which is a Government aided school. Originally a daughter of the Char, who shifted to Dhubri town after marriage, Ms Khatun says most of the primary schools in chars lack basic infrastructure like cooking sheds for the midday meal, toilets, classrooms, desks, benches, tables, chairs and even sufficient blackboards.

“While even the basic essentials are absent in schools located in the char areas, providing quality education to our children living in the char, is a far cry’, Khatun adds.

Hasina Akhtar and Jesmina Akhtar, living in Marishakandi Char of Chaygaon in Kamrup district and studying in Class XI in Sontali Higher Secondary School have been making their six kilometer long journey on foot for the last seven years.

Without any Government ferry service to connect them to the mainland, it is obvious that officials of the Education Department like the Inspector of Schools hardly pay visits to these schools. Normally, the char dwellers have to come out early in the morning from the char, as they have different income earning activities in town areas like earning as daily wage labourers, rickshaw pullers or selling agriculture products they produce in the char etc. and return during the evenings. The shallow pump engine fit private boat service matches this practice only. During emergencies, they have to hire such boats paying Rs.800/, and sometimes even more.

Similar to most of the rural pockets in Assam, primary schools in the char areas, too, were initially set up with the help and monetary contributions of local people, usually under the guidance of an educated youth of the area and during subsequent years, the State Government recognizes the institution as a Government - aided school. This recognition enables the school to receive grants for construction of the school building, regular salary and infrastructure. There is, however, no specific period after when the Government will recognize such an institution as a Government - aided school. Till the recognition, teachers received practically nothing in the name of salary. However, the State Education Department has decided to recognize only those schools established before March, 2005 and consider for provincialisation as per the Assam Venture Educational Institutions (Provincialisation of Services) Act, 2011.

Abdul Kalam Azad, the Head Master of Majher Char Chalakura LP School that was established way back in 1985, has been working without any salary over a period of 21 years, since he joined in the school. “The government has decided to provide the students the midday meal and school books since last year. This has brought new hope for us that our school too, would be recognized soon as a Government - aided institution,” says the Head Master.

Apart from the routine midday meal, occasionally solar lamps and bicycles to girl - students have been provided. However, these efforts are insufficient, considering the importance of bringing them to school.  

Hasina Akhtar and Jesmina Akhtar, living in Marishakandi Char of Chaygaon in Kamrup district and studying in Class XI in Sontali Higher Secondary School have been making their six kilometer long journey on foot for the last seven years. In fact, they are among those very few girls who have managed to continue their education after completing their High School Leaving Certificate Examination (HSLC). Out of fifteen students who appeared for the HSLC examinations during this year, only three were girls, but all of these three girls passed the examinations, says Hasina and Jesmina. “As we belong to Below Poverty Line families, we were given bicycles when we were in Class IX so that we can come to school comfortably. But there was no use of those bicycles as we do not have a proper road to come to the school riding on them. We have been continuing to study amidst difficult situations including insufficient number of teachers in schools, resources to attend private tutorial classes, proper food to eat so that we get the energy to walk up to 12 kilometers daily, apart from problems like livelihood risks and constant threat of erosion” add the girls, while returning from the school. The only road to their school with its entire stretch full of huge potholes has been a mute witness to the plight of Hasina, Jesmina and other char dwellers. They were also given solar lights provided under government schemes for the welfare of students of the char areas. However, those solar lights only worked for some months pushing them to continue studying by purchasing kerosene at Rs.35/ from the open market.

As per a field study carried under the IUCN Media fellowship Programme 2013, in different chars of Dhubri and Kamrup districts including Majher Char, Chalakura, Phalimari, Sontali and Khetrapara Chars has revealed that the midday meal programme, one of the crucial tools that has been able to increase enrolment in schools in the deprived areas of Assam, has been implemented in a better way in schools of  char areas of Dhubri district as compared to chars of Kamrup district.  In Dhubri district cooked food such as rice, dal and vegetables is served to the students in schools of the chars visited under the fellowship work. However, in both the chars of Kamrup district, it was noticed that only boiled rice mixed with some amount of salt and turmeric powder is served as khichri to the students.

The char areas cover 3608 sq km of the landmass of Assam, which is 4.6 per cent of the total geographical area of the State. The largest inhabited river island Majuli too is basically a char land. However, the education profile of Majuli is far better than that of other char areas of the State. According to the Assam Administrative Reforms Commission Report 2005, in Majuli, there is a Lower Primary School against 508 people against 1,592 in other char areas. Again there is one Upper Primary, High School or Higher Secondary School against 968 people in Majuli, which is 4,005 in other char lands.  In the higher education sector, one college serves nearly 26,875 people in Majuli, while the same for the other char area the figure is 2, 27,500. There are only 1852 Lower Primary schools, 574 Upper Primary schools, 218 High schools, 8 Higher Secondary schools and 18 colleges which is far below than the normal standard to cater to the educational needs of the children living in the char areas.

Ratna Bharali Talukdar