U.P Teacher Walks The Extra Mile To Ensure Education For Children From Nomadic Tribe

The teacher has successfully enrolled 40 students from the Kalabaj nomadic tribe into the Bhajhera Primary School.

A government school teacher in Uttar Pradesh has pulled out as many as 40 children from the nomadic tribe from begging, and has enrolled them into a school to ensure the right of education to the deprived children. Sita Trivedi, a primary school teacher from the Bajhera village herself visited the houses of people from the Kalabaj community and convinced them to send their children to a school. A nomadic tribe in Uttar Pradesh, the Kalabaj community earns its livelihood as acrobats or by begging. 

The teacher, Sita Trivedi, has been teaching in the Bhajhera Primary School since 2019, and was also assigned a task of conducting a child census in the nearby regions, a few years ago. Upon reaching a nearby village for the survey work, she was stopped by the locals from visiting the houses of the Kalabaj community. However, the undeterred teacher went ahead with the mission. 

"I was informed that none of the children from Kalbaj household go to school and instead help the family by begging for their livelihood," the teacher Told PTI. In her efforts to harness the children from the Kalabaj community into mainstream education, she also faced resistance from the elders of the community. 

"I visited every house on several occasions and told the elders about the importance of education. I told them stories of children from humble backgrounds becoming officers and successful industrialists after getting educated. This had an impact on them and they began sending their children to school," the teacher was further quoted as saying. 

"Today 40 children of the Kalabaj community are enrolled in our school," she added further. While the teacher turned successful in enrolling the students in the school, what surfaced as another challenge for her was the fact that children from other communities were not willing to accept them in school. "I noticed that children of other communities didn't eat mid-day meals with the children of Kalabaj community. I called the parents of other children and urged them to ask their wards to not discriminate with the children of Kalabaj community. The problem was resolved with the support of parents," she said. 

The teacher further underlined that she often buys clothes and books for these children since their parents do not have enough money to do so. The teacher’s social and developmental efforts have also caught the attention of the district magistrate who lauded her efforts as ‘commendable.’ "I hope these children will move forward in the interest of the society and get educated. Through efforts like these, the evils of caste-based discrimination will also end," the officer was quoted as saying. 

(With inputs from PTI)

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