“My name is Hangmila Jamang and I am 70... I am 79 years old,” narrates Hangmila Jamang with the cadence of a kindergartener, as she looks up from drawing water pots on her sketchpad. It is Art class today at Oasis Academy in Chatric Khullen in Kamjong district of Manipur.
Even as children across India spend their time on online classes, for the elders of this village of 100-households, lockdown has meant a return to physical schools after decades.
Leading this project is Sorinthan Haorei, founder of Gemson Haorei, an organisation named after his father. In February this year, the 28-year-old founded Oasis Academy for children up to Class VII, and in May, opened it up to 15 adult learners as well.
His grandmother, Shoknaola Hungyo (70), is one of his students. They are learning numericals from one to 1,000, alphabets, and how to write their own names. For many of the elders, the upcoming exam will be the first one of their lives.
“Most of the elders here did not receive basic education when they were young. The highest one of them had studied up to was Class IV,” says Sorinthan. But education was not the only reason this school was set up: “They (the elders) are involved in agricultural activities and most live away from their families. So another reason we took this up was to provide a platform for socialisation, to keep their mental health up in times like these,” he adds.
Teachers and students involved with adult education at Oasis Academy
In October 2020 that Sorinthan shifted base to his native village from Delhi where he got his Masters in Public Administration at IGNOU. “We returned due to the pandemic. On speaking to other people here, we realised that so many other children too had returned and were unable to go back to towns and cities to study. Which is why my mother and I came up with the idea of starting a school in the village itself,” he says.
He turned his parents’ ancestral home into a school for children, and set their curriculum according to the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur. In 2019, he organised the first district-level literary meet in Kanjong, hosting a quiz, debate and spelling bee. The teachers at his school are not ‘trained’, he confesses — it is just him and his mother. But the organisation is looking for sponsors to employ teachers, or teachers from neighbouring towns to volunteer.
For the elders, he and the other villagers together constructed bamboo sheds outside the main building. “We teach them to read the hymns at church. In due course, they will also be able to write letters to their sons and daughters.”
Sorinthan moved out of his hometown in Ukhrul, when he was 16, in pursuit of higher education. However, every Christmas and New Year, it was a family tradition to visit his grandmother in Chatric Khullen.
“We had to take a day bus from Ukhrul which dropped us off 40 kilometres from Chatric. So the next day, we would travel by foot, and reach the village around 4-5 pm,” he says. He recalls crossing a shabby bridge made of rope and chopped bamboo. “When I was young, elders would carry me on their backs, because the path was slippery.”
A view of the 100-household Chatric Khullen in Kamjong, Manipur
He is now back at the same village, teaching his grandmother English. “My grandson is a good teacher,” says Shoknaola. “Once I am able to sign my name, collecting my late husband’s pension at the bank will become easier,” she adds.
Monsoon is a week or so away at this village overlooking the India-Myanmar border. The weather is gloomy but Sorinthan is in high spirits. “I am holding parent-teacher meetings to chalk out the issues we have and discuss how to resolve them. Once the restrictions are relaxed, we will contact experts to see how our school can be upgraded,” says Sorinthan, “I will now go back to Delhi only to take my personal belongings. This year, our mission is education.”