Guwahati: A once ‘distant’ dream of having higher education in their gardens has come true for children belonging to Assam’s tea community.
In a first since the country’s Independence, Assam tea gardens will now have high schools, thanks to the state government opening 96 model schools—Adarsha Vidyalayas—on Wednesday.
Nearly 15,000 children have enrolled in these institutions.
The Assam government had established the State-Owned Priority Development (SOPD) fund in 2020 to set up 119 model high schools in strategically-located tea estates.
The state public works department (PWD) will construct these schools at Rs 1.19 crore each in 17 districts across Assam.
Speaking to EastMojo, Nabin Chandra Keot, the central vice president of the influential Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), welcomed the Assam government’s “unprecedented” move to set up high schools in tea garden areas.
“We welcome the move, which acknowledges our decades-long demand for high schools in tea garden areas. The model schools will certainly usher in positivity and pave the way for quality education in the tea garden areas,” Keot said.
The tea gardens in Assam only had lower primary and upper primary schools, with several in dilapidated condition.
“Tea garden schools have also witnessed high dropout rates with several children belonging to tea communities not completing their school education. The poor standards of education also do nothing good to their psyche. Besides, some who opt to travel distances for availing high school education, also suffer from inferiority complex and eventually drop out,” Keot said.
The ACMS leader further said that the poor economic backgrounds of parents of tea garden children has not helped either. “Many students had to spend more by travelling five to 10 km or even more every day to attend middle and high schools. This also took a toll on the wages of their guardians, which are minimal to say the least,” he said.
Speaking at a public function during the inauguration of a model high school in Pertabghur tea estate in Biswanath district on Thursday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he was happy to learn that many children who had dropped out of formal education have re-enrolled themselves at the new Adarsha Vidyalayas.
“They had dreams, but until now, only about 1500 could opt for higher education. Now, close to 15,000 have enrolled in the model high schools, and very soon, another 15000 would enrol. The state government will provide more facilities in these schools in the coming years,” the chief minister said.
Apart from children of garden workers, these schools will also facilitate students belonging to other communities living in the vicinity of these gardens to avail quality education.
Sarma has also promised to upgrade schools to a higher-secondary level. “We will offer HS courses in these schools soon. The tea garden areas will also have colleges in due course as we want to uplift the standard of education in the tea garden areas,” he said.
The CM on Wednesday even had a mid-day meal at Sonajuli Tea Estate Model High School and mingled with children.
“This (sitting and having lunch with the chief minister) is a dream come true,” said one of the school students.
Each of the 96 model schools will cater to four adjacent tea gardens and cover students belonging to tea tribes in 50 per cent of major tea gardens in the state.
“However some of the LP schools remain dilapidated, which is an aspect that the government needs to also focus on. Then again, the education department will have to ensure regular training for the teachers, which will be crucial to achieving the objectives,” said Keot.
The lower primary schools in the gardens were under garden management, which meant the teachers and children faced limitations and hurdles.
Mariani MLA from the tea tribe community, Rupjyoti Kurmi said, “As a member of the tea community, it gives me immense satisfaction that a major problem in Assam’s tea gardens has been addressed with the opening of the model schools. So I thank the chief minister, who was earlier the education minister, for taking this initiative.”
Apart from announcing that model high schools would be upgraded to higher secondary schools from the next academic session, the CM said math and science would be taught in English and social studies would be taught in Assamese medium.
“Moreover, curriculum based on Assamese medium will also be imparted in these schools. This has been done to help the young generation to gain knowledge both in English and Assamese,” he said.
“For the management of these schools, Rs 1 lakh each has been earmarked, and Rs 25,000 each has already been released. The remaining amount will be released shortly. The students of these schools will be entitled to free textbooks, free mid-day meals and free uniforms,” Sarma said.
According to industry sources, there are about 840 tea gardens in the state.
“We wanted the model schools to first come up in the interior and remote tea estates, where there are no schools between two and three kilometres. We made recommendations on these lines to the government,” Lazar Nanda, executive member of the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA) central committee, informed EastMojo.
He also confirmed that the old agency house gardens would come under the scheme’s ambit. “One such model school has been set up at the Maijan Tea estate, belonging to the oldest tea company in the state, Assam Company, in Dibrugarh,” Nanda said.
“However, while we are rejoicing at the prospect of high schools coming up in gardens for the first time in 75 years, we want the government to take care that the education system in the primary schools of the tea estates isn’t compromised with. Primary school teachers in the gardens draw a paltry salary of Rs 215 per day compared to a salary of Rs 1200 per day that the government schools teachers/TET-qualified teachers are drawing,” Nanda added.
“This is an aspect that we have intimated the labour commissioner as the garden managements have not taken care of many welfare aspects in the past. Then again, we have been demanding a minimum wage of Rs 350 per day for the tea workers. As of now, it is Rs 215 per day. At the same time, we have demanded a minimum wage fixation for the small tea growers of the state,” Nanda, a resident of Kharjan tea estate in Chabua said.
But nevertheless, a positive initiative has been taken for sure in the tea belt, with principals and teachers also thinking out-of-the-box to ensure that the institutions becomes model schools in the true sense of the term.
Palash Nath, principal, Tezpur-Gogra Tea Garden Model School inaugurated by the chief minister on Wednesday, told EastMojo, “We are making an effort to introduce something different, so there is something interesting for these children, who come from deprived situations, to learn and excel.”
“We (along with seven other teachers) have introduced a morning assembly, followed by a meditation session where the children also chant Sanskrit slokas. In about a month (the classes had started a month ago before formal inauguration), the children have picked up most of the slokas, and even chanted a few to impress the chief minister during inauguration,” Nath said.
Tezpur-Gogra Tea Garden Model School currently has 50 students in classes 6, 7 and 9, and more than 10 are youths (between 15 to 20 years of age) who dropped out.
“The idea is to also inculcate discipline among the students even during the mid-day meals when they pray/chant slokas before having food. We are providing nutritious food and ensuring that the children adhere to the right etiquettes besides the regimen of cleaning their own dishes,” he said.
Awareness campaigns were conducted before the schools opened formally, and Nath said that the response has been excellent.
“We are expecting more students and looking forward to further upgrade in the next academic session,” he added.
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