Books on boat & wheels: How education reaches remote corners of Sunderbans, Bhitarkanika

A boat crammed with books inside Bhitarkanika National Park and a classroom on wheels in the Sunderbans? Yes, mangroves — a paradise for wildlife and aquatic creatures — are now turning into a paradise for book lovers. The Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha — which has the second largest mangrove forests in India — and the largest mangrove habitat, Sundarbans, now have tiny learning nooks. Let’s talk first about what’s happening at Bhitarkanika National Park. In this Internet and mobile-phone age, when reading habits have taken a backseat, the forest department has carved out a space for bookworms in the wild environs of the park on Odisha’s coastline. In June 2022, the forest department launched a library in a boat at Dangamala village in Kendrapara district. The forest department had discarded the boat after it was used for many years to protect the mangroves. Manas Das, range officer at the Bhitarkanika National Park, said that the boat was retrofitted and stacked with books on varied subjects such as forests, nature and children. There are 1,500 books in the boat at present. “We had an old boat. That was renovated. Now it has a collection of a variety of books, keeping in mind the needs of children right from Class I to those studying in higher classes,” Das says. “The national park remains closed for tourists from May 1 for three months because it is the mating and nesting season for saltwater crocodiles. We are holding summer camps for schools, one school at a time. So the children sit in the library and enjoy reading in the lap of nature. The library is not just for schoolchildren. It’s a fully free facility for all visitors.”So book lovers on a holiday can curl up with a book in the lap of nature. JD Pati, who is among the brains behind the project, says they want to create awareness among people. Pati is the divisional forest officer of the park“The unique boat library of Bhitarkanika… was conceptualised by Shayama Bharati, who is the assistant conservator of forests, and Manas Das, the range officer at Bhitarkanika, and his team,” says Pati. “The idea was to create awareness among schoolchildren, villagers, eco-tourists, teachers, students, youths on wetland, nature conservation, wildlife and scientific management of mangrove forest ecosystem.”The day the boat library was inaugurated, children rushed in flocks. Schoolteachers say the library will help instill the habit of reading among local children and enhance their knowledge. Forest authorities now plan to host poetry sessions, discussions on books and other literary activities inside this unique library. Om Prakash Barik, who is a science teacher at Naganarayana High School at Dangamala village, is quite excited about this knowledge getaway. “The boat library has been a very attractive point for visitors to Bhitarkanika, particularly children,” Barik says. “The library has been decorated very nicely. It has a very useful collection of books. Suggestions have been invited from visitors about new books which will be gradually added. We took students from our school in a cycle rally to Bhitarkanika on World Environment Day, when the library was inaugurated. I am sure the library will prove extremely useful in the days to come.”Close to the library lies the hatchery and rearing complex of crocodiles at Dangamala village where around 100 baby crocodiles are being reared. Bhitarkanika, one of the most pristine mangrove forests of India, harbours the largest population of estuarine crocodiles. Sunderban’s classroom on wheelsAs the boat library reaches books to the backwaters of Kendrapara in Odisha, a classroom on wheels has trudged to the world’s largest mangroves, Sunderban. Wings of School — a customised toto van, or a large electric auto, travels to remote villages of the Sunderbans to extend the experience of digital classrooms to the marginalised children of those areas.The initiative took off when teachers at Kanakanagar SD Institution, a government school at Hingalganj in North 24 Paraganas district of West Bengal, saw something disconcerting among students. Prolonged closure of school during the pandemic created a learning gap among students. There was a marked difference between students who had access to smartphones and the Internet, and those who were deprived of these. Students had become victims of the digital divide. Pulok Roychowdhury, principal of Kanakanagar SD Institution, says it was not possible for teachers to bridge this huge learning gap within a restricted class timing. So he thought up this innovative idea. “As a teacher, principal of the school, I have found a clear division in the classroom,” he says. “It can be termed as digital divide, inequality to education, that is the after-effect of Covid lockdown and so many things. How do we ensure inclusive education for all? How do we secure the right to education in rural Sundarbans? All these thoughts led me to introduce the project, Wings of School… I’m very lucky to be acquainted with some fine teachers of colleges and universities in our country and abroad. Through some webinars, we built a team, planned to buy a toto van and modify it as a mobile ICT classroom. Now Wings of School has become a mobile digital classroom for the remote villages of the Sundarbans. Now it has local teachers, a projectors, sound system, screen, board and many teaching aids that are absolutely needed for blended learning.” The primary mode of learning at Wings of School is in offline mode where in-person teaching by local teachers is being carried out with recorded material and teaching aids. At present, more than 100 students of Class V and VI are being supported in three subjects primarily — English, Bengali and Maths. Roychowdhury spent nearly Rs 1.65 lakh from his salary to customise the toto into a digital classroom. The remuneration of the local teachers and the toto driver is being provided by academicians like Arpita Chatterjee, an associate professor at IIM Bengaluru, Indrajit Ray, a professor at Cardiff Business School, and Jyotishka Datta, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech. The classes take place in two pockets from 4.30pm to 6.30pm twice a week. Teachers use innovative means like showing documentaries, short films, stories and using teaching aids to make learning joyful. Probeer Mondal, a teacher at Wings of School, is quite happy with the changes he is seeing in students because of the digital school.“Students stumbled to recognise capital letters and small letters. They forgot the spellings of many words. They found huge difficulties of two- or three-digit multiplication, division. Actually, they lost the habit of reading, writing, normal calculation. Our Wings of School project addressed all these things. Arrangement of private tutors is not mandatory now. Now students of the Sundarbans happily join this open-air joyful learning classes.”Headmaster Pulok Roychowdhury said that many students quit studying during the pandemic due to financial crises. To support their families some children had engaged themselves in making bidis and thongas. Wings of School has managed to track them down, convince them and bring them back to classes. Tanmay Mondal of Class VI is happy to have joined Wings of School.“I have no smartphone,” Tanmay says. “During the Covid lockdown, I could not attend online classes. I lost my friends, I was very unhappy then. This school brings back my friends to enjoy classes.”Anchor: Jasleen BhallaAudio production: Anil Chauhan