Kerala: Four teachers carry texts to their students stuck in tribal hamlets

PALAKKAD: Four

teachers

of Government Higher Secondary School at

Agali

in

Attapadi

undertook a noble mission to help their students to pursue online education amid the pandemic.


As the students are unable to access electronic gadgets in their remote tribal hamlets, the teachers chose to carry textbooks to the

Kurumba

settlements by travelling 35km, by jeep and by foot. For the first 20 km from Agali, the teachers --Joseph Antony, Mohammed Faizal, Manikkan and Jemnaz -- travelled by a jeep but thereafter they were on foot and even had to cross the

Bhavani River

-- in the absence of a bridge -- en route to the tribal hamlets.

The teachers took the textbooks to the hamlets of Thudukki, Galazi, Thadikundu, Kinattukara, Murugala, Kurukkathikallu, Palar, Gottiyakandi, Mele Bhuthiyar and Pazhayur. These are the hamlets of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Kurumbas located deep inside the forest in Pudur Grama Panchayat.

Most of the Kurumba students rely on tribal hostels in different parts of the state to pursue their education. However, since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the subsequent closure of schools in the wake of lockdowns, they were forced to return to their hamlets. In the absence of internet connectivity, they were further isolated from the online education system that has been ongoing. The teachers said they felt happy to meet their students after more than one-and-a-half years. They said the students were overjoyed when they met their gurus and received the textbooks.