Price of education

D N Singh

An incident in a village of overhyped Kalahandi district in Orissa is a manifestation of the traditional blindness that still plagues literacy among the tribals. Three girls from the Chakutia Bhunjia community have been ostracized for pursuing their studies upto the Matriculation level. One of them has given in to the pressure, but the other two, in a rare show of guts have pulled up their sleeves to carry on against the odds. They are now teachers in the Chhatri Shiksha Anusthan run by the Chakutia Bhunjia Development Agency (CBDA). They were not only the first to become Matriculates but were the first to wear chappals. But the ordeal is not over yet. The families of both the girls still suffer from the scorch of ostracization, and are having to live literally cut-off from the social mainstream. In the whole area there is nobody who can confront this kind of terror created by the tribals. In the Chakutia tribe, any girl going to school is viewed as a stigma on its social image. However, against all odds, four girls from the community had appeared for the Class X examination in 2006. Their actions are still viewed as being repugnant to traditional values. Does that mean that no other girl from this tribe should dare to go to the school? That brings the role of the government into question; is it fit that the authorities should remain a mute spectator to such ills perpetrated by a handful of people?