“It took me so a few years, however I didn’t hand over on my dream,” says Satarupa Majumder, a 47-year-old trainer from Kolkata.
Her dream was to take schooling to one of many remotest areas of the Sundarbans and it was born in 2012 throughout her first go to to Hingalganj, an island on the Ichamati River on the Indo-Bangladesh border of West Bengal. For 9 years now, Satarupa has been working the Swapnopuron Welfare Society (SWS) in Hingalganj.
Swapnopuron, which suggests “a dream come true” in Bengali, is among the first English-medium faculties within the coronary heart of Sundarbans. With 5 centres unfold throughout linked islands, Swapnopuron has impacted over 1700 kids since its inception.
Satarupa generously carved out a while for me whereas juggling conferences in Swapnopuron’s Kolkata workplace and planning her journey to the Sundarbans for the weekend. Right here’s her story of infectious willpower, unwavering religion, and tireless laborious work.
A Stitching Machine and the Highway Journey of a Lifetime:
It began when Satarupa’s Toronto-based aunt was visiting India and dealing on her annual ritual of constructing a number of donations to individuals in want. This time she was searching for a stitching machine to assist talent a group of ladies within the Sundarbans. So Satarupa dug out certainly one of her late grandmother’s favorite possessions — a Singer machine that had been idling untouched for years.
Becoming a member of her aunt, she took a 3.5-hour-long experience over 86 km from Kolkata and reached Katakhali village in Hingalganj. The village primarily comprised households of beedi employees, fishermen, a number of farmers and each day wage labourers. With the on a regular basis struggles of survival being the principle focus for residents of the cyclone-prone area, schooling had taken a backseat.
Satarupa distinctly remembers seeing children “who had been both enjoying within the mud or rolling beedis.”
“I couldn’t assist however evaluate these children to my 7-year-old daughter again house. When in preschool, my daughter had entry to issues like a toddler fitness center class, a gaggle of friends, and lots of privileges. In distinction, I used to be seeing these children who may by no means get an opportunity even to see a good playground. May I do one thing about it?” she says.
The area has a number of authorities faculties, however the high quality of schooling was dismal, and youngsters largely went there simply to obtain mid-day meals. In consequence, many dropped out and bought pulled into youngster labour within the enterprise of constructing beedis.
Bikash Biswas, a 35-year-old English trainer and department coordinator with Swapnopuron, says that the world has over 20 authorities faculties. Nonetheless, they lack all of the required services to present these kids a secure, nurturing atmosphere.
A resident of Hingalganj, Bikash has a Masters in English Literature and Diploma in Academics’ Training. He accomplished his schooling in a authorities faculty in Hingalganj itself and went to varsity and college in Hooghly. The distinction between his time at college and authorities faculties within the area now, he says, “is the way in which lecturers taught. Twenty years in the past, the lecturers right here had been motivated. Right this moment, resulting from poor services, lack of infrastructure, and skewed teacher-student ratios — that dedication has dwindled.”
(Decided to make a distinction, Bikash has been a trainer since 2007. Having begun with the identical authorities faculty the place he was a pupil, he has now been working with Swapnopuron since 2018.)
Upon Satarupa’s arrival in Hingalganj for the primary time, few individuals within the village rapidly learnt that she was a trainer. Whereas she had been observing the children, their mother and father had been observing her. Simply earlier than she might depart, they approached and requested her to show their children some English.
“I keep in mind casually saying that I might love to return down someday, however I by no means actually thought I might”, says Satarupa. On the time, she was a middle-school trainer of Economics at a famend faculty in Kolkata. On that day within the village, she had a younger youngster again house, a full-time profession, a conservative joint household — there was no manner she could possibly be again to assist.
However, terribly, a number of months later, she discovered herself on a ship experience again to Hingalganj. A agency believer in having a function in life, Satarupa says it was the “name of the universe, and he or she needed to reply it.”
TGIF! For the Most Lovely Causes:
Each Saturday morning, Satarupa would take the 6:20 am native prepare to Hasnabad station. From there, a rickshaw experience would take her to the Dasha river financial institution, adopted by a ship experience throughout the river, and eventually an auto-rickshaw experience to Hingalganj. There, she would educate children until three within the afternoon and make plans for the following week on her manner again house.
“I used to do my job on the faculty 5 days per week. However I’d all the time look ahead to Saturday — a day of all issues freedom and happiness. Crossing the river, educating the children — it was an journey for me,” she laughs.
These preliminary Saturdays concerned talking to folks, counselling those that weren’t sending their children to check, gathering children, and educating English. In a number of months, she had taken eight Katha (0.5 acres) of land on hire utilizing her wage and had arrange a makeshift faculty.
Nevertheless, getting children to return commonly was troublesome. The world wasn’t straightforward for her to navigate alone. Although she was by no means scared or uncertain, not figuring out anyone within the area was a hindrance. Thus, one of many first stepping stones for Satarupa got here in 2014, when she met a person known as Aamir Hussain.
Aamir da, as she refers to him, was a highschool trainer in Basirhat, a city positioned about 30 km away from Hingalganj. Some individuals informed him about “this girl who travels each week to show children.” Intrigued, he reached out. Impressed by her dedication, he began supporting and inspiring her. He created house for her to work locally by serving to her converse to residents. And when Satarupa determined to rent the primary few lecturers to affix her faculty, his spouse was certainly one of them.
However destiny took a tragic flip in 2016 when Aamir da handed away due to a coronary heart assault. It got here as a large shock for Satarupa. Her robust pillar of help for 4 lengthy years was not by her aspect.
The Second of Reality and Triumph:
Even in his absence, Aamir da’s religion was all the time with Satarupa. Slowly, the work she had been doing began taking roots. Since lots of the native lecturers she employed didn’t have the satisfactory expertise she required, Satarupa organized for a trainer coaching programme on the Nationwide Institute of Artistic Efficiency in Kolkata. She additionally used her wage to pay theirs.
“Convincing them to return to Kolkata as soon as each week was a process in itself. I couldn’t have performed it with out Aamir da’s help. He helped me persuade them by chatting with their husbands and households,” she provides.
Beginning with 25 children in Nursery, Decrease Kindergarten and Higher Kindergarten lessons, Swapnopuron slowly expanded to Grade 4 by 2016. However the second of fact arrived with the realisation that children had been going again to authorities faculties after Grade 4, the place the dearth of services would finally take them a number of steps again.
Satarupa knew she needed to arrange a highschool. “By this time, I had realised that my career as a trainer in Kolkata alone was not giving me the happiness I sought. So I needed to make a concrete choice — both I might proceed with my full-time job, or I might arrange a highschool in Hingalganj.”
No prizes right here for guessing – she stop her job, together with a really snug wage. However the selection got here with hesitations about her household’s response. “I got here from a strict household. Girls wanted permission to go so far-off from house, on their lonesome, and spend that a lot time at a wierd place.”
Furthermore, she had a daughter to take care of. Fortunately, her husband Debashish Majumder, a businessman in Kolkata, was extremely supportive, and her conviction gained everybody else’s help as effectively.
Now, she had the gas she wanted to dedicate herself solely to her trigger. Utilizing her Provident Fund, Satarupa paid the primary advance to lease one other piece of land in September 2018, on which she constructed a construction of hay with ten rooms for Lessons 5 to eight. In 2021, Swapnopuron expanded to Class 9. Right this moment, the college prices a small payment of Rs. 100-150 per 30 days, which is usually waived off for individuals who can’t afford it.
A Steep Climb Up and Up:
In 2019, the college grew from 100 to 182 kids, and the quantity stored growing month on month. Satarupa employed extra lecturers. Impressed by her work, famend changemakers within the metropolis joined the organisation as board members. Nicely-wishers pitched in with donations, and her staff began elevating retail, institutional and CSR funds.
Whereas following the CBSE curriculum, Swapnopuron focuses on a variety of activity-based studying for main faculty. From craft and tradition workshops to outside actions and storytelling classes — they deal with the holistic improvement of kids. To conduct such classes, Satarupa invitations specialists at common intervals. They’ve had individuals like completed storyteller Priyanka Chatterjee and college students from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, be part of them on the island.
The phrase about their work unfold from house to house. Satarupa and her workers members went door to door, convincing mother and father to ship their kids to highschool yearly.
Within the course of, she noticed numerous points locally, which concerned every thing from males abandoning their wives for a number of marriages to kids being married off. She felt, first-hand, the insecurities of ladies and youngsters and resolved to assist them.
Working with the West Bengal Fee for Safety of Baby Rights, they began conducting a number of youngster safety and girls empowerment workshops to make sure the faculties, households, and society would work collectively to maintain kids in lecture rooms.
Come Cyclones and Viruses; the Goals Went On:
Swapnopuron was among the many few instructional organisations within the nation that would proceed educating regardless of COVID-19. Satarupa labored together with her staff to divide college students into teams of those that had smartphones at house and people who didn’t.
They took a number of weeks to organize after which began on-line lessons. These with no telephones obtained worksheets of their houses. Moreover, they educated moms within the space to assist children throughout on-line lessons. To help the households, the staff additionally distributed 13,550 ration kits over ten months.
Simply because the battle towards COVID was being gained, Cyclone Amphan struck and created havoc within the islands in Might 2020. Swapnopuron braced itself once more. With Satarupa’s encouragement, the staff arrange six group kitchens and served 76,100 meals over 21 days throughout Hingalganj and 5 neighbouring islands. They needed to cease lessons for a month due to the dearth of electrical energy and telephone community.
Listening to about their work, individuals began approaching the organisation to assist — with funds and volunteers. And collectively, they started rebuilding tasks within the Sundarbans, which included rebuilding homes, cleansing ponds, introducing pisciculture and vegetable gardens as technique of livelihood, and a number of other different tasks supported by particular person donors.
It was this work and their robust status that helped Swapnopuron draw the native administration’s consideration. The administration was amazed to see their progress.
“I’ve been seeing Swapnopuron’s work not solely as an academic establishment, but additionally as an organisation that’s serving to empower the area people right here. From aid work to empowering ladies, to bridging the hole in on-line schooling throughout COVID-19, they’ve performed spectacular work,” says Sukanta Sarkar, Upa-Prodhan, Hingalganj Panchayat.
The administration reached out to her through the Native Panchayat Sabhapati, Archana Mridha, asking if she would arrange centres in different components of the island. “I stated we positively would in the event that they helped us with the locations to arrange centres. In order that they did, and in the present day we’ve got been in a position to arrange 5 new centres in six months,” says Satarupa.
Bikash, who was very carefully concerned within the aid work, calls it some of the advanced and difficult issues Swapnopuron has ever performed. “We noticed individuals within the remotest areas lose every thing from homes and cattle, to all their belongings, together with kids’s books. Bainara village was certainly one of them. So it meant an excellent deal to me once we had been in a position to arrange a free teaching centre for 205 children from Bainara for 5 months after Amphan, adopted by a everlasting department close to the village,” he says.
One Problem, One Pupil, One Instructor at a Time:
In direction of the top of 2020, Satarupa had began hiring lecturers and school members from Kolkata and different components of the nation. However human assets, like monetary assets, is a big problem for the organisation. “Convincing lecturers to return to a cyclone-prone space is just not a straightforward process. If I needed to rent good lecturers, I had to ensure that they had a correct place to remain within the Sundarbans,” she says. Satarupa now rents a two-bedroom quarter for lecturers to make use of at any time when they keep within the space, and Swapnopuron has a complete of 16 lecturers.
Anupa Dutta, an educator with 20 years of expertise, is certainly one of them. She stop her job at a famend faculty in Kolkata to work with Satarupa. Her function includes every thing from educating to counselling the lecturers and oldsters.
“I reside in Hingalganj for 3-4 days per week. My husband and son are usually not supporting my choice proper now, however I’ve made up my thoughts,” she narrates excitedly from the lecturers’ quarter whereas sharing in the identical breath that there’s no electrical energy proper now, and he or she’s sweating within the warmth. “When our college students are so decided to study regardless of all of the challenges they face right here, why can’t we persevere?”
“Training is Love”
“It’s love,” says Satarupa, “the way in which each single topic can affect these kids.” She tells me about Masoom Birla, the primary child to affix her faculty – who’s now in Class 6. Masoom’s childhood was scarred with hardships. Coming from a particularly underprivileged background, he has a sick father and an ailing mom at house. However regardless of the circumstances, his will to study drives him and conjures up a number of lecturers. “Masoom was one among the many 12 of our college students who participated within the Science Olympiad Basis examination. He gained a medal for his efficiency,” Satarupa shares with delight.
Speaking concerning the affect, Satarupa emphasises depth over numbers. “Whereas we started with a small variety of children, we’ve got now seen an urge among the many residents to coach their kids. Girls, who’re working their households as single moms, flip to us for hope in the present day. They strategy our lecturers and ask for his or her children to be educated. This can be a super success. As a result of until we will affect the complete group on this manner, we won’t be able to have a long-term affect on the children.”
Bikash and Anupa agree with this perception. “Ritika Ghosh, certainly one of my college students in Class 1, misplaced her brother to an accident not too long ago. That little lady was so depressed that she was not in a position to come to highschool,” says Bikash, who continued to go to her place to counsel his mother and father. “I informed them that that they had misplaced their son, however their daughter was there. She would fulfil their desires. I spoke to them until they had been satisfied to ship her to highschool,” he says, including how shiny a pupil she is and the way a lot she loves to bounce.
Debjani Adhikari is one other such pupil of Class 3. She misplaced her father in an accident, and her mom works as a beedi employee. “Many of those kids are first-generation learners. Seeing these mother and father attempting so laborious to assist their children get educated all the time fills me with delight.”
A Dream Come True
Swapnopuron stands true to its title, not just for the scholars however for everybody concerned.
“This place has taught me that nothing is unattainable,” says Anupa. She helps me join with Ruma Das, a resident of Hingalganj who sends her daughters Moumita and Sushmita to the college.
“In comparison with the earlier Bengali medium faculty the place my daughters had been going, Swapnopuron faculty has introduced a large change. For me, the largest change is how they attempt to speak in English, even at house. English is essential for one’s profession, and I would like my children to study,” says Ruma. Being a Naik with the Indian Military, Ruma’s husband isn’t at house. So she manages the home alone whereas taking good care of her in-laws.
Her daughter Moumita, a pupil of Class 2, one among the many 1000’s for whom these desires are being woven, chimes in, “I study English, Atmosphere Research, Social Research, Math and Bengali at college, and I actually like my faculty. Why? I like my faculty as a result of it’s probably the most clever faculty. It’s an English medium faculty,” she says.
Moumita’s smile is a testomony to the truth that although it took a few years, Satarupa Majumder by no means gave up on her dream.
(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)
