Former Beggar, Now Learner: How This UP School Teacher Enrolled Nomadic Tribe Children In School
Begging was the way of life for children of a tribe in UP, but a messiah - in the form of a teacher - is all it took for them to aspire for a better living.?
The teacher was Sita Trivedi, a primary school teacher at a government school. She successfully weaned 40 nomadic tribe children from the practice of begging and enrolled them in a school.?
Personally visited households of?marginalised nomadic tribes
Teaching at Bajhera Primary School since 2019, Sita Trivedi was given the task of conducting a child census a few years ago.?
When she visited a nearby village for conducting the survey, the locals stopped her from going towards the houses of Kalabaj community. Kalabaj is one of the marginalised nomadic tribes in the state and people of the tribe earn their livelihood as acrobats or by begging.?
But, she insisted on visiting. She learnt that none of the children from Kalabaj household go to school and instead help their families by begging for their livelihood.?
Trivedi made it a point to personally visit the houses of these children and convinced their parents to send their wards to a school, despite facing resistance from the Kalabaj elders.?
Caste-based discriminated persisted at school?
But enrollment was not the end of the road. In fact, a major challenge awaited: students from other communities were not ready to accept them.?
"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.?
Trivedi also often buys clothes and books for these children as their parents do not have enough money.?
A commendable effort indeed?
Basic Siksha Adhikari (BSA) Ranveer Singh said they have taken note of the efforts made by the teacher.?
"The efforts made by the teacher are commendable. We hope that such efforts are also made in other schools so that not a single child in the district is kept away from school," said the BSA.?
"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," said District Magistrate Umesh Pratap Singh.??
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