Bhalopahar school functions only till standard II, yet, it is a school with a difference. There is a need to educate the Santhal children and the children of other “backward castes” who make up the community, but the overwhelming need is to give them an education that does not make them look askance at their own culture. There are quite a few government schools within a radius of 10 kms. However, these schools do not provide any space for the imaginative development of the children, rather, cuts them off from their own vital and living cultural traditions that are so much part of their everyday life. What is held up as “education” in these schools is a process of forgetting who they are, of being “civilized” into men/women without histories. While our modest effort cannot bring in policy level changes like including Santhali as a taught language in school (though we have been campaigning for it and hope that in a few years, even government schools in this area would be forced to offer it), our fledgling school is an attempt to connect these children with their own culture, so that they begin to take pride in it, while learning to read and write in English and Bengali. So, their stories and songs are as important to us as teaching the English alphabet. Currently, we have 46 students of which 18 come from Santhal communities and the rest belong primarily to the Mahato communities of the area.

One of the things that has given us tremendous boost, is that parents have quite often taken their children out of the govt. schools and enrolled them in Bhalopahar, even at the cost of a nominal school fee of Rs 30. Though the people in this area are poor, we made it a point to charge a fee because we wanted to instill in them a sense of the value of a different education. While there is a very high dropout rate in the govt. schools, we have not faced it yet. Those whose parents cannot pay, come and help us run Bhalopahar, whether by gardening, growing crops or by doing odd jobs for the school.

For those who come to Bhalopahar, formal education is only one of the many things that they pick up along the way. They learn to see their own songs, stories and rituals differently. They also learn how trees are planted and how plants yield crops. They learn about their own environment – the plants and birds and animals that are part of their world. All this, and more, we believe, reinforces their sense of identity as adivasis. However, though we believe that there is much that is wrong with the formal education system, as we know it, we also feel that much can be done within it. So, instead of defining ourselves outside the system, we chose to take it on and transform it. Can our children be schooled differently while they read what the curriculum prescribes? Can they take examinations with the confidence of children in privileged schools in the cities, while being true to their own adivasi identities? Can they continue to express themselves in ways that are consistent with who they are, while they bond with other children with their own histories and identities? Can they learn from each other, a respect for other traditions and cultures? Can the education we provide improve their quality of life without delinking them from their context?