INDIA-EDUCATION: MOVING LITERACY SCHOOL FOR MIGRANT HERDERS AN INTER PRESS SERVICE FEATURE

DEHRADUN, INDIA, Nov 25 (IPS) - THE TRUCK SPED AWAY AFTER RUNNING OVER AND KILLING ZAHIR'S GOAT, ITS DRIVER SURE THAT THE IGNORANT CATTLE HERDERS WHO SAW THE ACCIDENT IN THE FORESTS NEAR THIS NORTH INDIAN TOWN, COULD NEVER RECOGNISE HIM AGAIN.

BUT UNLIKE THE PAST, WHEN THEY HELPLESSLY WATCHED RASH HIGHWAY DRIVERS KNOCK DOWN THEIR LIVESTOCK, THE NOMADIC FOREST DWELLERS WERE READY THIS TIME.

WHIPPING OUT THEIR SMUDGY NOTEBOOKS AND PENCIL STUBS, THEY SCRIBBLED DOWN THE TRUCK'S NUMBER. LUCK WAS WITH THEM WHEN THEY SPOTTED THE SAME VEHICLE A FEW DAYS LATER. FACED WITH RECORDED PROOF OF HIS CRIME, THE DRIVER AGREED TO PAY ZAHIR FOR HIS GOAT.

THIS SEQUENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN UNIMAGINABLE A YEAR AGO WHEN NONE OF THE MIGRANT TRIBAL CATTLE HERDERS COULD READ OR WRITE.

THANKS TO A REMARKABLE LITERACY SCHEME, THE VAN GUJJARS (FOREST CATTLE HERDERS) HAVE NOW PICKED UP THESE SKILLS EVEN WHILE MIGRATING EVERY SEASON FROM THEIR WINTER FOREST HOMES NEAR THE HIMALAYAN FOOTHILLS.

TAKING LITERACY TO THE 8,000 NOMADIC GUJJAR HOUSEHOLDS INHABITING THE FORESTS SPREAD ACROSS DEHRADUN AND ITS ADJOINING DISTRICTS, HAS BEEN NO EASY TASK FOR THE RURAL LITIGATION AND ENTITLEMENT KENDRA (RLEK), A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATION (NGO) BASED IN DEHRADUN.

"FRANKLY WE WERE VERY NERVOUS. OUR HEADACHES INCREASED ONCE WE REALISED THAT VAN GUJJAR SETTLEMENTS ARE NOT LIKE OTHER VILLAGES," RECALLS PRAVEEN KAUSHAL OF RLEK WHICH IS TEACHING THE GUJJARS UNDER A GOVERNMENT-FUNDED LITERACY PROJECT.

THERE ARE NO CLASSROOMS AND RLEK INSTRUCTORS HAVE TO WALK OR CYCLE SEVERAL KILOMETRES IN THE FOREST EVERY DAY TO CONTACT LEARNERS. THE GUJJARS LIVE IN MUD AND THATCH HOUSES WHICH ARE THINLY DISPERSED ACROSS THE WOODS.

THEN THERE IS THE SEASONAL MIGRATION. ONE OF THE MANY PASTORALIST TRIBES OF THE HIMALAYAS, GUJJAR HOUSEHOLDS HAVE BEEN MIGRATING FOR CENTURIES TO HIMALAYAN MEADOWS AT HEIGHTS OF ABOUT 4,000 METRES IN THE SUMMER MONTHS.

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