Government urged to address abysmal situation of education in tea gardens of Assam

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: Three community organizations of Adivasi and tea tribe communities and two civil society groups, which are working for the amelioration of the social and academic environment in the tea garden areas of Assam, have demanded the immediate attention of the government to address the miserable plight and abysmal situation of education in the tea estates of the State, specially the education of the girl child.

These civil society groups and community organizations are Purva Bharati Educational Trust (PBET), Women in Governance (WinG)-Assam, All Adivasi Student Association of Assam (AASAA), All Adivasi Women Association of Assam (AAWAA) and the Jorhat district unit of All Tea Tribe Student Association Of Assam (ATTSAA). These organizations came together on March 8, which marks the International Women's Day, and prepared a manifesto to highlight the plight and abysmal situation of education in the tea estates in Assam, especially the education of girl child, and the actions required to ensure quality education.

Education is a fundamental right in the Constitution of India under Article 21-A. Education for all children (aged 6-14) is free and compulsory guaranteed by the Constitution of India as a fundamental human right under Article 21 (A). Education enables an individual to lead a dignified life in society and to manage basic requirements for survival. But, in general, the education condition in the tea plantation areas is still underdeveloped despite having basic schooling facilities there. Lack of quality education, accessibility of schools and accountability for education is resulting in high rates of dropouts. Teacher-pupil ratio, dysfunctional infrastructure, lack of trained teacher, distance of the school, and education-related expenses are the few major issued identified by the civil society working in the tea plantation area.

Under such grievous circumstances, the organizations have demanded the government to provincialize all tea garden schools and to take them under the control of the government and the Right to Education (RTE) norms in terms of infrastructure development, student-teacher ratio, teacher's appointment and quality education.

They have also demanded to stop the amalgamation of schools and instead, to improve the infrastructure of the schools in the tea gardens, to allocate special budget and develop a financial roadmap for implementation of the RTE Act and the National Education Policy specifically for tea gardens, to establish monitoring and grievance mechanism in each district to look after the quality education of the tea garden schools and to include civil society groups like All Tea-Tribe Students Association (ATTSA), All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA), All Adivasi Women Association of Assam (AAWAA) to extend support and expertise.

The organizations have further demanded to ensure functional water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) facilities in all schools and crèches in the tea gardens and appointment of trained mental, health counselor and educators to provide gender-equitable personal, social, health and sexual health in schools.

Moreover, establishment of adequate schools from primary to secondary level in or nearby areas of tea gardens for the children of the tea gardens, establishment of girls' hostel under Tea Tribe Welfare Board in district headquarters, establishment of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Bidyalaya for the tea garden children to address the issue of trafficking, occupational migration, introduction of special scholarship for the tea garden girls for motivating them to take up formal education, reservation for tea garden students in technical institutions, proper utilization of CSR fund of tea company on education in the tea gardens, setting up of separate department on tea studies in the universities of Assam which will offer course on lives and livelihood, culture, plants, soil, setting up of free residential coaching institutions for tea garden students for advancement of knowledge in competitive exams and development of separate Labour Law specific to tea gardens areas in Assam have also been demanded by the organizations.

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