Teenagers Moumita Munda and Manisha Mondal of Hingalganj block in North 24-Parganas district won’t go to schools 16 when classes are set to resume on November 16 after a gap of 20 months owing to the pandemic.

When schools and colleges reopen, they would have left home to work as domestic helps outside Bengal.

The girls aged between 18 and 19 have no option left but to quit studies to overcome financial hardship they have been facing for over the past 18 months owing to the pandemic-induced lockdowns and the disastrous consequences of successive cyclones Amphan and Yaas.

They are not the only ones. Many others in Hingalganj, Hasnabad, Haroa and other areas of the Sunderbans have dropped out of school and moved outside Bengal to work as domestic helps or cooks. Many others are preparing to take up jobs soon since most want to avoid an early marriage, which many families in rural Bengal see as a “solution” against poverty. These girls, however, want to fight poverty by taking up jobs.

Till the pandemic struck, Manisha used to study at ABS Madanmohan Vidyapith at Amberia village in Hingalganj.

The Class X dropout said: “During the last 18 months our family income has taken a hit. My elder sister used to give private tuitions, my mother worked as a domestic help. With the onset of Covid-19, students have stopped coming for tuitions. Taking tuitions online is a luxury as my sister doesn’t own a smartphone. My mother also lost her job. This made it difficult for me to continue my studies. Getting a job was the only option.”

Manisha got in touch with a few girls in the village who had been working outside Bengal to find a job, she said. “With help from my friends working outside the state, I got the job of a domestic help in Kerala. I hope to save some money for my family.”

Moumita shares Manisha’s plight. Moumita's difficulties multiplied after her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, died of Covid a few months ago. Her mother, a renal patient, is trying to support the family as a domestic help. Her sister is specially-abled.

“For the past two years we have been struggling to survive. We are surviving on rations provided by the government. We need cash to buy medicines for my sister. Continuing with school is a luxury for me,” Moumita said.

Local sources said several families in remote areas of the Sunderbans region have been finding it tough to survive.

“The situation is alarming. Continuing with their studies is a costly affair for many. I am sure to lose many students when classes resume on November 16,” a teacher at a school in Minakhan said.

Sources said by working as a domestic help, or cook or in garment factories outside Bengal, girls earn anything around Rs 10,000 per month.

BDO Hingalganj S.P. Lahiri said he was unaware about so many girls in his area opting out of studies. “The picture of dropouts will be clear after November 16 when schools reopen. We will then definitely count the numbers and take steps to get students back to class,” he said.