Summary
School started by a woman who was gang-raped when she was in school, recognised. She decided to use education as a tool to protest.
A school in a remote village in Murshidabad, where parents once wanted to get their daughters married early, now has 1,600 girl students.
Debkunda Sk Abdur Razzak Memorial Girls High Madarsah was among the three schools that won The Telegraph School of the Year at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2023.
The school in Murshidabad is led by a feisty woman, Murshida Khatun, who fought the prospect of marriage several times in her own teens.
About 200km away, in Bankura, is a school for girls that has changed the lives of many in the area. It was started by a woman who was gang-raped when she was in school. She decided to use education as a tool to protest.
The woman, Laxmi Murmu was joined by Reba Murmu and they together started Laxmi Murmu Smriti Sishu Vidyalaya, Bhalaidiha, Bankura. Laxmi and Reba both had a strong urge to change the plight of tribal girls.
Laxmi is no more. The baton has passed on to Reba, who is now the secretary of the school in Bankura.
The school received The Somak Dutta Endowment on Saturday to help them keep empowering girls in the area.
When Laxmi was gang-raped, her father, a forest guard, had wanted to file an FIR. Laxmi refused. After her Madhyamik, she joined an organisation that worked for the underprivileged.
Along with Reba, she started working with an NGO in the Ayodhya hills.
At one point, they came back to their village, Chhachanpur in Bankura, and started working as labourers, purchased a small plot of land and built two thatched mud wall rooms. That is where the school for toddlers began.
“This is real education. This is a masterclass in education... This is a celebration of the victory of the people who fought all types of challenges in their life and we all should learn from them,” said Suborno Bose, chief mentor, IIHM, who gave away a set of awards at the ceremony.
On a day that celebrated her school’s achievements, Murshida Khatun said she had “not even accomplished 10 per cent of what she aims to”.
It is not easy when girls drop out or parents force them to get married.
“I have a team of girls who report to us if they see that any particular girl is absent for long. We then make home visits to find out about them,” said Khatun.
The school conducts workshops for the girls twice a month to empower them and show them what empowerment is. “I have to empower the girls so that they are able to say ‘no’ to marriage as children and to their parents,” said Khatun.
The school does not stop at that. Teachers visit the children’s homes to attempt to build bonds with the girls’ mothers. “Would you not want a better life for your daughter than the one that you have?” a teacher would ask.
Often, the mother would not even be aware of what that better life could be like.
A better life is what Arifa Khatun, a Class VIII student is fighting for. Arifa’s uncle and grandparents had wanted to get her married some months back. But the girl, from Netra village in South 24-Parganas, resisted and now is an active member of the child parliament of Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre. She is a crusader against child marriage.
A corporate professional from Calcutta who went to Susunia hills in Bankura for rock climbing, like many from the city do, saw the tribal families there and never forgot.
He started giving them clothes and books. Twenty years on, Gautam Basu still helps schools in the area with books and clothes for the children. On Saturday, Basu received The Telegraph Education Foundation honour.
Education can do a lot more than fetch lucrative jobs, The Telegraph school awards showed.
Last updated on 27 Aug 2023
