Sambalpur: Access to higher education has remained elusive for scores of youths belonging to the tribal community of Babupali, a revenue village under Jhankarpali panchayat of Jujumura block in Sambalpur district.
Surrounded by forests and with their parents being illiterate, youths of the remote village had never thought of getting higher education. However, with sheer determination and the desire to excel in life, three youths including a girl of this village have beaten all odds to enroll themselves in a college for higher education.
Barsha Guru has enrolled her name in Mandhata Baba College while two boys Chandan Palka and Sahil Bhoi in VSS College at Jujumura and Paramanpur College respectively. In a dark region where education has remained a misnomer till now, they have become the torchbearers for scores of youths aspiring for higher education.
The village, located around 10 km from Sambalpur town and four km from Bhawanipali village square on National Highway-55 comprises 120 tribal families. The village tucked inside a forest has only an ME school for the children while the nearest high school is around five km from the village.
With almost all the villagers being poor and doing odd jobs to earn a livelihood, the pang of hunger has deprived them from receiving higher education. The children drop out at an early age in order to earn a livelihood.
Barsha’s father was a blacksmith and died five years ago due to tuberculosis. After his death, Barsha’s mother Santoshini decided not to give up and focused on her daughter’s studies.
Barsha is now attending classes by travelling to her college which is around 10 km from her village. She dreams of becoming a teacher after completing studies and aims to work towards providing higher education to the youths of the village.
On the other hand, family members of two other youths have not engaged them in any work and encouraged them to study. This development has spread cheers among the villagers. Jujumura CDPO Sabita Nayak said there are 12 girls in the village as per government records while the number of boys is over 50, the record of which is not available with her. She said most of the children drop out from study due to poverty and lack of awareness.
However, children are now being encouraged to study. Around 35 children have been identified for higher education. Locals said that all villagers are labourers and live below poverty line. In the absence of drinking water facilities, many villagers are suffering from kidney-related ailments. The disease has claimed the lives of the elders in many families. So, children are finding it difficult to tread the path of life, they lamented.
In the absence of male members, the women manage the domestic work while children are forced to take up odd jobs to meet the expenses of their families. However, the village has been experiencing the winds of change for the last few years as children have learnt using computers and browsing internet.
PNN
