DREAMS WITH WINGS

 

In a significant step taken by the Kerala Government towards promoting education in the tribal regions of the State, the Government Tribal Lower Primary School at Edamalakudy village off Munnar has been upgraded to an Upper Primary School from this academic year. This transformative move, under directions from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, marks a milestone in the quest for inclusive education, ensuring that children from marginalised communities receive quality education, nurturing their talents, and enabling them to unlock their full potential. Nestled within dense forests of the Western Ghats, Edamalakudy is the place where members of the forest dwelling ‘Muthuvan’ tribe had been living for countless generations. Due to lack of channels for proper contact and communication, Edamalakudy remained isolated and disconnected even from Munnar too for countless generations and that deepened its seclusion within the thick forests. The formal elevation from LPS to UPS was marked by a colourful function held at the campus on June 1, 2023- the school reopening day after the summer vacation.

The highlight of that function was the welcome song in typical Muthuvan dialect rendered by Ms. Anitha Harikumar from the Adimali Block Resource Centre. Though the medium of education at the school is Malayalam, newcomers to the school are not well versed with Malayalam since members of the Muthuvan community speak a tribal Dravidian language that is related to Tamil but not exactly Tamil. Only on reaching Class-III do many of the kids studying there get comfortable with Malayalam. With the school getting upgraded, students there can now hopefully continue studying at the same school till class-VII. The situation till last year was that, after successfully passing out from class- IV, the students had to go to Munnar, Adimali or Marayaur to attend classes from class-V upwards. Because of that problem many turned into dropouts after class-IV. On reopening day there were seven new admissions to class-I and ten out of fourteen who had passed from class -IV took admission in Class-V. In all about 45 students attended the reopening ceremony. Presently the school strength is 67 and those absent could not make it for the function because of the heavy rains in their respective settlements.

A school that lies in the lap of nature

Edamalakudy is a place that remains enclosed on all sides by dense forests- by the Eravikulam National Park on the East, the Anamalai Tiger Reserve of Tamil Nadu in the north, the forests of the Kuttampuzha Range in the west and the Malakkapara forests in the south. The only means of communication with the outside world is a 36 kilo meter rough and rugged track to Munnar that is arduous even for four wheel drive jeeps to navigate. The drive through that track is so challenging and laborious that it takes almost four hours for a jeep to cover that distance. Added to that, there are dangerous wild animal threats en route. Jeeps also remain a luxury to the people of Edamalakudy. The Edamalakudy village comprises an area of 26,000 acres or 106 square kilometers and within it there are 26 settlements of the Mudhuvan community. For many of their daily, but limited, requirements they had made Edamalakudy selfsufficient in many ways. But a basic education facility for their children continued to remain a dream. Then in the year 1978 the erstwhile Harijan Society based at Edamalakudy initiated steps for providing basic education to those children and started a school there the same year within a settlement called Societykudy.

That school was taken over by the State Government in the year 1980 and was christened as the Government Tribal Lower Primary School. However children from only about four or five settlements out of the 26 could avail of the facility. That was mainly due to the fact that most of the other settlements are located quite far away from Societykudy. Children from those far away settlements faced several travel challenges when it came to reaching the school. One major concern for parents was the presence of wild animals along the terrain through which their children had to travel on foot daily to reach the school and get back home. Additionally, during the rainy season, the situation worsened, as students had to cross a rivulet that often swelled with water, becoming impassable. These factors combined to create substantial obstacles, making it difficult for many students to attend the school.

This hurdle stood in the way of the educational facility launched there, reaching the intended beneficiaries. To overcome that hurdle the government converted the Tribal LP School at Edamalakudy into a residential school offering separate boarding facilities for boys and girls. The boarding is actually two huts with facilities to accommodate 30 students. While all students are provided with free breakfast and lunch, the boarders are provided with evening tea and supper plus other requirements as a boarder.

Teachers with a different passion

Only those with a passion for working as teachers in such an area will enjoy that life at Edamalakudy. Fortunately all the teachers posted to this school were found to possess that passion. This is in spite of the fact that they have no proper residential facilities there. During the night the teachers sleep in the classrooms and share meals with the students. During their service in the school, they too remain cut off from the outside world. Even mobile phone connectivity is scant. Without the passion to work as a teacher at Edamalakudy, things could look burdensome and exhaustive for teachers posted there. As of now there are two teachers, Shameer C.A. and Vijin Chandran plus three others drawn from the Samagra Shiksha Kerala unit working as teachers there. In the year 2010 Edamalakudy was declared as a separate Grama Panchayat and is the only exclusive tribal grama panchayat in the State.

With the transition to an Upper Primary School, the institution now boasts improved facilities and resources, tailored to meet the unique needs of its students. Additional classrooms are under construction and to top it all, the construction of a concrete road to Edamalakudy from Munnar is progressing. A Family Health Centre started functioning from Edamalakudy from the month of May 2023. Says Shameer, “On Friday evenings many of the boarders go to their homes to be with their parents during the weekends. Unfortunately some of those who go from the boarding for the weekend fail to return on Monday and there is no coaxing on the part of the parents to ensure that they return to school. At this juncture the teachers step in, travel all the way to the settlements to engage in counselling the parents and students so that the students return to school”. He said that this is also one of the tasks of the teachers posted at the Edamalakudy School and ensure that the task meets with success.

Shameer said that the elevation to an UP school has come as a big blessing for the Edamalakudy students in that even after passing out from class- 1V many students are seen reluctant to leave Edamalakudy and their parents in order to pursue their studies. This was seen as another problem that created dropouts. However with the facility to study up to class-V11 at Edamalakudy itself coming up now, the students will reach a level of maturity that will create an urge in them to go to a high school. On June 2, 2023, a group of students from the Edamalakudy accompanied by their teachers had travelled all the way to Thiruvananthaputam and had an audience with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The students were all thrilled with that journey and meeting the Chief Minister face to face.