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Tea workers' venture to educate future generation

About 1,200 registered workers of Amo Tea Garden in Habiganj's Chunarughat upazila donate Tk five every week to run the school

Mintu Deshwara
In a rare example of altruism, workers of Amo Tea Garden in Habiganj's Chunarughat upazila are running a school with their paltry income to save their children from discrimination that they commonly face in schools outside garden area.
The workers raised funds and set up Udayan High School in early 2013 after some students of nearby Amrud High School and College physically assaulted their fellow classmates, who were children of tea garden workers, recalled Dhaneshwar Banerjee, an erstwhile labour leader.
Currently, about 1,200 registered workers, each of who earns Tk 102 per day, donate Tk 5 every week to run the school, said Dhaneshwar, a member of the school managing committee.
"The school started journey with only 130 students but now has 488 students enrolled in grades up to X," he noted.
Previously, the children went to Amrud High School and College and Chandpur High School. Every day they had to cross hilly muddy paths to reach the schools located about seven kilometres from the garden area.
They could hardly understand the lectures as the teachers there did not speak their languages like Munda, Shadori, Urao, Santal, Deshwali etc.
"Moreover, their classmates looked down upon them and called them 'untouchables' because they belonged to tea workers' families and had darker skin complexions," said Swapan Munda, headmaster of Udayan High School.
As a result, the dropout rates were high, he told this paper.
"We are happy as our teachers love us very much. They explain things to us in our language when we can't understand something," Moni Munda, a seventh grader of the school told this correspondent.
But till today, the school is beset with many problems like shortage of benches and rooms. There is no toilet facility in the tin-shed one-storey building, according to the headmaster.
The land on which the school stands did not come to the workers easily, recalled Anirud Baraik, secretary of Laskarpur valley in Habiganj.
"The garden authorities were not easy to convince. The workers had to demonstrate to get the small land inside their slum."
Juboraj Jhora, a sardar (caretaker) at Amo Tea Garden, said, "In our childhood, we were deprived of education. So, we wanted to build an institution where poor kids could have easy access to education."
There are 12 teachers in the school who provide education in exchange of a token salary.
"I don't want money. I teach the unprivileged children of tea workers so that they can make their parents proud," said Swapan.
Dhaneshwar urged the government to step forward to lessen the burden on the founders and teachers of the school.
Dilip Ranjan Koiri, president of the school managing committee, said, "There are 6,000 tea workers including 1,200 registered ones in Amo tea garden located some 45 kilometres
from Habiganj town.
"In the end of 2012, we had to go door to door to convince guardians and finally in January 2013 we could begin activities of the school," he said.
Ajit Ghosh, a union parishad (UP) member and Anirudh Baraik, a workers' leader, had led the task.
Chunarughat Upazila Education Officer Mohammad Samsul Haque said, "People in Chunarughat are aware of Amo Tea Garden workers' contributions to education. They faced so many obstacles and criticism but never gave up."
Last month, a football team from the school became the champion in intradivision football league in Sylhet. Now they are set to take part in the divisional level where they will face the champion of Chattogram division.