Balaghat/Mandla
It is a happy place where beautiful wall art, depicting wildlife and rural scenery, greets visitors. Inside one of India’s most famous tiger reserves, there lies a school aimed at enriching young minds with environmental consciousness in the midst of formal education imparted in English.
The Bhoorsingh Public School run by the Kanha Workers’ Society was set up in 2017. It is named in honour of the Barasingha (hard ground swamp deer), which is the official mascot of the Kanha Tiger Reserve spread over Balaghat and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh.
Sipping a hot cup of tea at Kanha’s heritage Mukki forest rest house, forest guard Laxmi Maravi shared her experience of managing the school which has about 102 students at present and runs classes from Nursery to Class 3.
“There is a plan to extend the school, at least till Class 5, but a shortage of space at present is hindering it. After passing out, the students join other English medium schools which have come up nearby the tiger reserve or the Kendriya Vidyalaya.,” Maravi told The Indian Tribal.
Lifeline For Tribal Children
The Bhoorsingh school which stands in Kanha’s Mukki village attracts students from as far as 15 km, said Santosh Thakre, one of the six teachers, at the school. Thakre, who was once associated with a resort in the tiger reserve completed a B.Ed degree, and had been a teacher for two years. He lives in Baihar, about 15 km from Kanha.
Thakre teaches English, Mathematics and Computer to students of Classes 1 to 3. “I love teaching at the school and derive a huge satisfaction. The tribal students sometimes find it difficult to learn English and Hindi, but I encourage them in a friendly manner. But many of them do understand Hindi as it the dominant language spoken in the region,” he said.
Though the school has a nominal fee structure within Rs 3000, it mostly runs on donations. Apart from sports kits and water coolers, a school bus and a van have been donated. The vehicles carry children who come from far.
Talking about the school fees, Thakre shared that parents can afford the money, as some of them work as guides in Kanha, few have lands or own shops, and then there are those who work outside.
From Summer Camp To School
Ashu Bisen has acted as the headmistress of the school for three years. Her husband works in the forest department. “The management side is handled by assistant director Ajay Thakur and Laxmi. I mainly concentrate on studies.”
Bisen told The Indian Tribal that the school has been run on CBSE pattern until now, but as the registration is under the Madhya Pradesh state government, NCERT books will be followed in future.
The school’s history is interesting. Originally, the idea was to organise a summer camp for students but then the school came up in a range quarter in 2017 and got registered in 2018. It was mainly the idea of Surendra Kumar Khare, who is now retired from Kanha, and is associated with the MP Tiger Foundation in Bhopal.
Maravi, who has been in charge of the school for seven years, informed that classes are held Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
“It feels nice to be with children. As the forest department focuses on environmental conservation, in my current responsibility there is a combination of education and environment which is a perfect thing,” she said.
When asked about the wall paintings, Maravi informed that artist Manoj Gadpal was behind them. He is popular and carries out exhibitions.
