Guwahati; Longsing Tokbi, 13, has been assisting a family with household work at Mahoriati village in Nagaon district of Assam for five years now. In return, he has the privilege to go to a “good” school, which, he says, is a distant dream in his native Baithalangso in neighbouring Karbi Anglong district.
“My father says there are no good schools in our area, so I was sent here. I am not alone though. More than 200 school-going children from my area, including my four younger brothers, are studying in different schools of Nagaon. But I have always dreamed of studying in a good school in my area,” Longsing, a student of Bebejia HS School, told The Telegraph. Mahoriati is located on the outskirts of Bebejia town.
Baithalangso, under Rangkhang constituency of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, is represented by Haren Singh Bey, a leader of the former militant outfit, the United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), in the council.
Over the past few years, the “work for education” concept has seen several children from Hamren subdivision, under which Baithalangso falls, “migrate” to Nagaon for education. The numbers have swollen, with almost 60 per cent of the seats in most of the schools of southwest Nagaon district being occupied by Karbi students. Baithalangso is located 30km from Hamren town.
Strangely, neither the education department nor the Nagaon administration has data on the number of students who have migrated from Karbi Anglong to Nagaon. However, school authorities admit that Karbi students are enrolled in at least 60 per cent of the seats in the primary and middle schools in the area.
“Local agents in Hamren hire buses to bring kids to Nagaon at the beginning of an academic session. On the first day, the children are lodged in one house from where they are transferred to other houses the next day. To get a new kid, the agents are contacted before the end of an academic session,” said a school teacher of Hatichung, 7km from Bebejia town.
Sangita Terangpi, who changed her name from Kache Terangpi after enrolling at Phulaguri primary school (Nagaon), said, “Had there been a good school in our locality, I could have spent my childhood with my parents in Toradubi.”
“Abundance of textbooks, good infrastructure, regular classes, qualified teachers and an overall education-friendly environment make for a good school. But we do not have a good school in Karbi Anglong,” said Juli Tokbipi of Nawgong Girl’s College who has now spent almost 15 years in a Nagaon household.
“We do household work in the morning. Girls are engaged in cleaning while boys are assigned to take the cattle to the fields. Thereafter, we go to school and once the classes get over, we assist the families in household work and go to table in the evening,” Longsing said.
A pitiable education environment, frequent bandhs and trouble, lack of quality infrastructure and qualified teachers and mismanagement are the reasons why parents in Karbi Anglong prefer to send their children to Nagaon schools.
Some guardians in Hamren, however, blame their poverty coupled with the local autonomous council’s failure to come up with an education policy as the root cause of the migration. Most of them blame Khor Sing Engti, an MLA from Howraghat in Karbi Anglong who is a minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet, for the pathetic scenario.
Engti’s wife Premola Beypi is the executive member for social welfare in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and his sister Alis Engtipi is the executive member for education in the council.
“Being the hills area development minister, Khorsing could have taken some initiatives. Both Premola and Alis are influential elected members of the council and they represent the two departments involved in children’s future,” said Lorense Engti, a Baithalangso villager.
Baithalangso is one of the most underdeveloped constituencies of Karbi Anglong, suffering from illiteracy, backwardness and poor communication. It has 179,851 voters, of whom 93,196 are male and 86,655 female. Congress legislator Mansingh Rangpi and Hill State Demand Council (HSDC) heavyweight Holiram Terang are the two strong candidates from Baithalangso this year.
Asked about the migration, the council’s Hamren representative, Mangalsingh Timung of the Congress, said: “We have no time to discuss such things now as we are busy in election campaign.”
Baithalangso legislator Man Sing Rongpi of the Congress, when asked about the issue, said: “This is a complicated subject, for which several factors are responsible. The entire socio-political system might join hands and work together to curb the migration.”