Mainstreaming of Santhal Tribe Children of Dalla Village in Maldah

Dalla is a small village in the Habibpur block of Maldah district in West Bengal. The village is about 42 kilometres away from Maldah town. It is one of the 291 villages in Habibpur block, which is mainly inhabited by the Santhal tribe community. The block has almost three sides surrounded by the international border of Bangladesh. Among its total population, about one third of Habibpur block has Santhal tribe. The literacy rate of this block is very low and most of them are landless agricultural labour.

Now, we will take you back to the late 90s, when SEED (Society for Socio Economic and Ecological Development) came to know about the plight of these Santhal tribes of Dalla village. The village is situated near Punarbhava River close to the Bangladesh border in Maldah. In 1997, when SEED entered the village, it noticed that most of the tribal kids were school drop outs and the main reason was annual occurrence of flood in this area. The Santhal tribe people of Dalla village were mainly dependent on agricultural labour work. The red soil of this area produces a variety of rabi crops including winter rice. But, during the rainy season, the Punarbhava River used to get flooded and the homes of the villagers would go almost under water. The poor people had no other option but to move out of the village and get temporary shelter in districts like Bardhhaman and Hooghly. They would temporarily work as agricultural labour with a minimal income. For these few months, they could not send their kids to a new school.That meant their children had to miss their school for months, which was not acceptable to school authorities. They were not allowed to admit in school after 6 months of hiatus. As a result, their formal education was in stake and their future was in dark like their parents.

With an aim to offer basic education to these children, SEED started four short term non-formal education centres. During the dry season, these schools used to teach about 150 children for six months. They were also trained in painting, singing and dancing.  

Santhal children showing their drawing at one of the 4 non-formal schools

Thus, they were not missing education even though they could not go to full time formal schools. An NGO named ‘Maldah Sanskriti O Samaj Unnayan Parishad’ extended its support in this noble cause and thus the intervention continued for the next three years till 1999. Lots of children were benefited and mainstreamed through these education centres and they could also explore the world like other children of their age.