City-based Genesis Educational and Charitable Trust (GECT) is building a school at Kultali in South 24-Parganas district, for mainly the children of tiger-attack victims in the Sunderbans, to provide them basic education and lessons on human-animal conflict.
The institution — the Genesis Eduventure Public School — will accommodate 1,000 children, from Montessori to Class VIII. The building is under construction in Garankathi village, Kultali. Classes are expected to begin in the next academic year.
The school is one of many welfare projects undertaken by the GECT for tiger-attack victims and their kin in the Sunderbans.
The organisation was set up in 2009. Currently, it is involved with around 800 widows of tiger-attack victims and around 1,000 children, providing them with the necessities of life, and taking measures to help them become self-reliant.
“In an area where literacy rate is still quite poor, coupled with limited scope of livelihood, people tend to take risks to make a living, but end up losing their lives. Our prime objective is to create awareness about human-animal conflicts, and help the current generation, so that they can explore newer ways of making it, through education,” said Olivia Dunlop, the trust director.
“We want an end to people entering creeks of the Sunderbans to hunt crabs and falling prey to tigers. Children should be taught about the human-animal conflicts, and only proper education can help them,” added Dunlop.
The organisation noticed that many children in the delta dropped out of school after a certain age. In 2019, a survey found nearly 60 per cent of students fell in that category.
“We noticed parents were not inclined to get their children educated,” said Dunlop.
Initially, the organisation began online education at four locations.
“That eventually encouraged us to undertake the school project,” said Purnendu Roy, a founder of the GECT.
The school would follow the CBSE curriculum. The campus will include hostels for students and a residential complex for teachers. "Fees will be highly subsidised,” said Dunlop.
Ashim Gayen, secretary of the Sunderbans Tiger Widow Welfare Society, said: “The school is a great initiative. It will open new doors.”
The Indian part of the Sunderbans delta comprises 54 small islands, with a population of around 40 lakh.
The delta has 96 tigers, according to the state’s tiger census.
The area is deemed a global hotspot for human-tiger conflict by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with at least 40 people killed in tiger attacks annually.
