Parents and Pupils

I've told you about the campus at Roldih. Now let me tell you a bit about the people who live in the surrounding villages. The villages close to us are Roldih, Burhikurwa, Danga, and Haripur, which is across the "river" and so it's a bit "far" for us even though it is within walking distance. The others are closer.

The people living in Roldih, Danga are Santhals. The people living in Burhikurwa are kumhars (potters) and a few baniyas (small-time traders). Haripur is divided into two tolas. The tola closes to us in inhabited by Santhals and now yet another tola has sprung up which is inhabited by "Rai" people, probably members of the scheduled caste. But they rear cattle and make a living out of selling milk.

The land here belongs mostly to the tribals. According to law, tribal land can be neither bought nor sold. But tribals can gift or donate land to others. Even then, the title of this land cannot be transferred. So the non-tribal villages that have sprung up are on land "donated" by the Santhals of this area.

Most Santhals have so much land that there are some who don't even recall how much they own! Not all of it is cultivated. Only as much as they can plough. It depends how many mouths there are to feed and how many hands willing or able to work. Up till very recently, the tribals grew only paddy (rice) and some lentils (arhar). But after seeing the "dikkus" (non tribals) even the "hors" (tribals) have started growing vegetables. Sweet potato is a very popular cash crop.

The Santhals are very simple and honest people. They'd rather die than tell a lie. But of course, the "educated and civilized" ones have adopted the values of the outside world and know how to "evade the truth". Still, by and large they are very honest and simple folks concerned about living off the land in the sense that they grow their own paddy and lentils, some vegetables and fruits and other forest produce make up their diet.

Without going into the merits and demerits of "being ambitious", let me say that the Santhals are not "ambitious" people. They have a laid-back lifestyle and will only work if they have to. Otherwise they'd prefer to hunt for small birds or simply sit around and shoot the breeze or get together and drink and, if anyone gets into the mood, dance.

Now don't get me wrong. Contrary to popular perceptions about tribal people, the Santhals are not always drinking, and neither are they always drunk. During season they drink a lot of "tari" (fermented datepalm sap) and on occasion, "mahua", which is a drink made from the "mahua" flower. The fruit is used to extract oil which has a very pleasant smell and keeps the skin very soft.

As, I was saying, the Santhal does drink, and so do you and I! But they are quite civilized about it. It's very rare to see them get into scraps while drunk. It's social drinking, like we do in our kind set up. The Santhal, while drunk, may express what's in his heart. But rarely, will he, like some us, use it as an excuse to misbehave! The non-tribals, here do tend to quarrel amongst themselves and others if they get inebriated.

The non-tribals here don't own much land. They normally lease land from their tribal neighbours and grow crops on it. They are good farmers and it is not uncommon for them to grow more per acre than the Santhals. This could probably be due to the heavy use of chemical fertilizers. The Santhal would prefer to use natural manure.

Most non-tribal people, whether they are potters or milk-sellers, are into some sort of trading activity. They buy and sell tendu-leaves (used for biri making), rice, lentils, cloth, wood, etc. They often act as middlemen and also moneylenders for their tribal neighbours. Money lending is quite a popular occupation and the rates of interest are usurious ' 50% per annum. Anyone with a little bit of money will indulge in this activity. Most carpenters, masons, mechanics etc. are from the non-tribal community. Since they don't have much land, they need to learn a craft or do some trading to make both ends meet.

As someone running schools for the children here, I find marked difference in the attitudes of the tribals and non-tribals. While the average Santhal has started showing some interest in sending their children to school, by and large they think going to school is a waste of time. Even when they enrol their children in school, it's not uncommon for them to engage the child in some household activity during school hours! In fact, some of the tribal children coming to our school have actually "run away from home" to be there. Some even face rebuke and punishment for "wasting their time". Hence, the children who do attend our schools are really, really keen to learn and are diligent in their studies.

I seldom have any trouble with the kids. They are willing to come to school in pouring rain, bitter cold and scorching heat. Our problem has been to "discipline" the parents by coaxing, cajoling and at times threatening them to send their kids to school. Our efforts are paying off. But not as much as we would like it to.

Unfortunately, there is a perception among outsiders that tribal kids are "not intelligent". This makes my blood boil. Firstly, the tribal kid has to study in a language which is not his mother tongue. Most schools are Hindi medium. Secondly, when he does attend school, the attitude of his mostly non-tribal teacher (who probably got his job by paying a bribe) is definitely undesirable. Thirdly, this child probably had to "fight" with his parents to be able to go to school; and most likely had to perform many chores before getting there on an empty stomach. So where is the environment for him to study and be more "intelligent"?

In our school we don't distinguish between tribal and non-tribal children. They are treated as equal. The only "discrimination" we practise is to remember that Hindi is not their mother tongue of a tribal child. We don't find them any less intelligent than children anywhere else in the world.

The non-tribals, on the other hand, are very keen to ensure that their children get an education. In fact, in some cases, even the girl child is spared from performing household chores simply because she goes to school and should have ample time to study. This is good. But what bothers me at times is when parents come to me and ask me to give their children "pass marks" when they have actually failed! Somehow "failing" is a prestige issue! We have a tough time explaining to them that we want the children to have an education and not just a piece of paper!

Our school is a primary school. We follow text books that are commonly used in other schools. But we don't follow a particular syllabus. Our aim has always been to provide them with enough education to enable to seek admission in some of the schools in the vicinity. In this aim we have been successful. When children leave our schools they often get admission in classes higher than the ones we would expect them to. For instance, it is not uncommon for a child studying in class III in our school to get admitted to class V or even VI. It's something that I am really proud of!!!

Since this is getting a bit too long, I'll wind up with a little incident that took place a few months ago. Not many outsiders visit this area. But one evening, while I was meditating, we had a visitor. He said he was a government official passing through. But when he saw a Santhal child studying on his own by the light of a lamp, he was so amazed and shocked that he had to come and see what inspired the child to do so. I did not meet this gentleman because by the time I had finished meditation, he had gone. But I am still not sure whether I should be happy or sad with his attitude. Should I be happy that he came to find out about us? Or should I be sad that the sight of a tribal child study affect him so much! What's so unusual about a child doing his homework?