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Musahars, too poor to go to school
Last Updated : 2010-04-26 12:27 AM
The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s)
Rambabau Yadav
SIRAHA: Despite government campaigns to increase enrolment rate in
schools, children in this Musahar village in Siraha have always been
deprived of education.
The Musahar village in Siraha-9 is just next to the District Education
Office, the government mechanism in the district responsible for
leading the enrolment campaign. But still, nearly 123 children of
school-going age from 60 families have never been to a school.
According to Chalitar Sadaya, a local, there is no one in the entire
village that has passed fifth grade. "Everyone who goes to the
District Education Office can see this Musahar village, but no one has
shown interest in educating children of this community," he said.
Ten-year-old local Dharmendra Kumar Sadaya said he was never told by
anyone about the school enrolment campaign. He said, "We spend the
whole day guarding the house, looking after younger siblings and
goats."
Bouka Sada, another local, said though many people have asked him why
he did not send his children to school, no one ever asked him about
the problems he faces in sending the children to school. He said, "We
are poor and cannot afford to buy books, copies and other necessary
materials for school-going children."
The Musahar community in the district headquarters is just an example. The
government mechanism
has also failed to bring
children from other dalit communities in the district to school. In another
Musahar village of Lalpur-1, too, more than 100 children have been
deprived of education. And so is the case with more than 150 children
in the Musahar village of
Aurahi-8.
Kapleshwor Sadaya of Rishikul Sadaya Kalyan Samaj said that almost all
the people from Musahar community were landless and forced to labour
for very little daily wages so they were
unable to send their children to school.
He said, "The government thinks that constructing a school in the
local community is an all-time remedy, but it hardly assesses the
capacity of locals to send their children to school."
He also said that almost all the children from the 358 Musahar villages in the
district are deprived of education. He claimed, "The government should take
responsibility for educating children from the Musahar community, then only
will its enrolment campaign succeed,"
According to a survey of Dalit Janakalyan Yuba Club, Lahan, only four
per cent of the 75,000 Musahars in the district are literate. Only
five persons from the Musahar community are college graduates. And,
above all, 95 per cent of Musahar are landless in the district.
Tularam Tamang, head teacher of Shramik Primary School, Asanpur, said
that only five per cent of the
children enrolled during
the campaign were from
the Musahar community and most of them quit
before completing primary level.
Amit Bishwokarma, a local dalit rights activist, demanded a new plan
from the government level to include all dalit children in mainstream
education.
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