55-year-old Pratap Bora, a resident of Kailali district of Nepal, who never went to school due to poverty, had never imagined that it would be in a quarantine facility that he would hold a pencil and a notebook for the first time in his life. And he is now both thrilled and amused that he has finally learnt to write his name in Hindi.
“I have never held a copy or a pencil in my hand in my entire life. Here for the first time, I learnt to write in a notebook. Learning to write was a very different kind of experience for me. Now I can sign on any paper in Hindi. I feel I have got some extra special power,” said Bora with a smile on his face.
Bora learnt how to write his own name as well as his village name with the help of government teachers at the relief centre set up at a school in Tanakpur area of Champawat district where he has been quarantined with others. Bora used to work as a labourer with a national highway contractor at Dhaun, 55 kilometres from Tanakpur on Pithoragarh road.
When he was going to Nepal with other companions after the lockdown was announced, he couldn’t cross the border due to the sealing of the Indo-Nepal border and local administration put him under quarantine in the relief camp at the school.
Likewise, Prahlad, 36, a resident of Bahraich area of Uttar Pradesh had never gone to school and worked as a daily wager. He too has learnt to write his name and names of other basic things.
“Had I gone to school I would not have to become a labourer. Now, the time has gone but this learning has given me strength. In the future, I would definitely send my children to school,” he said.
Faizan, 25, who hails from Bareilly worked in Nepal as a tile-laying mason, was going to Bareilly on foot due to lockdown and the unavailability of transport. Police caught him and his companions on the way to Bareilly in Banbasa and quarantined him here.
“It was a thrilling experience for me to learn here how to sign. Now I will sign on paper instead of using my thumb impression while receiving wages in future,” he said.
Similar are the stories of many labourers like Iqbal, Mohammad Shahid, Ramnath Bir Bahadur who are being imparted basic education at these relief centres in Champawat.
“We have set up 10 centres in Tanakpur, Banbasa, Champawat and Lohaghat. Literacy class initiative is being implemented in our district only,” said SN Pandey, district magistrate, Chamapawat.
“Thousands of labourers from different parts of India and Nepal are engaged in mining, construction of the building and all-weather road in Champawat. Literacy initiative will provide somewhat basic knowledge to such quarantined people” said Pandey.
“48 Indian and Nepalese nationals have been put under quarantine in a relief centre set up in this school building in Tanakpur area of Champawat. Classes of yoga and meditation are other entertainment activities that are being held to keep quarantined people busy and to reduce their stress,” said Prema Thakur, senior teacher and in-charge of the relief centre in Tanakpur
She said, “On the instruction of higher authorities, literacy classes were also conducted here. We provided them with pencils and notebooks for learning and writing. They showed good interest in learning”.
“Similar literacy activities are being conducted at relief centres in Banbasa, Champawat and Lohaghat also. Some centres are using blackboards for teaching. Though much can’t be imparted in a short period, these people must have experienced the importance of education in life,” said RC Purohit, chief education officer, Champawat.
“In the beginning, these people were shy about joining the class and holding a pencil and notebook, but later they showed good interest. Now, they seem to be happy after learning at least how to write their own names,” said Thakur.
Notably, thousands of labourers were earning a livelihood through mining in Sharda and Ladhiya river as well as in the construction of the all-weather road in Champawat before the lockdown, the official said