School faces closure, kids have to trek for 2 hours to reach new one

PUNE: In March last year, the Japanese government shut down a train station on the island of Hokkaido after a girl, who had to take a train to school, finally graduated. The entire station had been kept operational for three years, just for one passenger.
Back home in Maharashtra, the remote village of Kalakrai is now faced with the prospect of sending its young children on a two-hour trek through thick woods to another school after its only school was ordered to close.

Only 70 km from Pune, this village of 200 residents is almost cut off from the outside world. The nearest motorable road is two hours away on foot. The isolation is so acute that most women here have given birth at home.

A team from TOI had to carefully make its way through the forest to reach Kalakrai - two hours from Sawale village, where the new school is located. During the rains, numerous waterfalls and streams hide some massive boulders. The path, lined with thick undergrowth, is slippery and dangerous. When the school shuts, the children of Kalakrai will be forced to take this route to the nearest school, every day.

The government's order has been aimed at zilla parishad schools with student strengths of 10 or fewer. Kalakrai doesn't stand a chance.

"Class I has just one student; Class 2 has three; there are only four studying in Class III; and just two in Class IV. There are indeed 10 students, but in total," says Suryakant Talpe, one of the two teachers at the school.

Parents, stunned by the closure order, are furious. "The only government facility we have is that school. How can they shut it? Don't we deserve some semblance of a system here?" asks Shobhaji Kavale, whose grandson is one of the two children in Class IV.

The tiny one-room school was built 20 years ago. It has no functioning toilet and its roof is near collapse. Inside, however, there is evidence showing the teachers and the kids had tried to make the most of what they were given. Common English and Marathi words have been spelt out on colourful charts.

"Besides the 10 kids we have, there are young children - between the ages of 3 and 6 - turning up to just sit around here and play. Every school in a remote region of the state doubles as a 'Balewadi', or a playschool, if there's no alternative," says Talpe.

The villagers are worried about children losing out on early education. "This school was helping our kids learn to read, write and calculate," says Sakaram Kathe. "If it shuts, they will miss out on primary education. We do have just one student in a class, but that child must be given a chance."

The alternative is the near-impossible trek through dense forest. "But the students studying here are just 6 to 10 years old. We cannot send them alone through the hills. What if a child falls into a ravine or gets bitten by a snake?" asks Chandrakant Kavale, a resident.

Kavale works in Mumbai - over 70 km away. Every Saturday, when he comes home to Kalakrai, he has to walk two hours to reach home. "And then on Monday, I have walk to the bus stop again. You have to study to escape such circumstances. That's the reason why our school must stay open."