In a small, neglected village of Kolkata exists the most extraordinary thing. Arup Mukherjee, a constable with the Kolkata Police, runs a school for tribal children, funded entirely by his own salary and savings. For these children, Mukherjee is like a fatherly figure and fondly referred to as ‘Police Dada’ or ‘Sabar Pita’.
The Puncha Nabadisha Model School is located in the Purulia district of West Bengal, one of the state’s most underdeveloped regions. Founded in 2011, the school is built on a 9000-sq-ft stretch of land, according to The Indian Express. Initially starting with just 20 students and a couple of classrooms, the school has grown to accommodate 112 students, with 9 classrooms, a separate washroom, and kitchen area. The students all live at the school and are provided with proper food, uniforms, and education material.
The children, aged 3-14 years, all belong to the Sabar tribe, the reported as the most backward tribe in the state. “During my childhood, I used to hear stories about the Sabars. My grandfather would tell me that they were uneducated and had no jobs. So I’d always wanted to start a school for them.” Mukherjee told The Indian Express. The Sabar community was classified as a ‘criminal tribe’ under the British rule, and like many things in post-colonial India, the Sabar tribe shed its official criminal status but could never quite escape the hardships, poverty and marginalization that came with it. As a result, with little-to-no means of earning a decent living, the tribe members turned to robbery and dacoity as a way to survive. The emergence of the Puncha Nabadisha Model School helped decrease these criminal activities to a great extent when parents who sent their children to study realised that they could now hope to give them a better future. “Many parents with criminal background have now reformed themselves since they know their children are in good hands. Parents of around 30 children in my school have given up crime. This gives me great satisfaction,” Mukherjee said to News18.
“When I got a job in Kolkata police in 1999, I began saving money. I later borrowed some money and in 2011, began the school, when a local donated this small plot to me,” Mukherjee said in an interview. With total savings amounting up to Rs. 4 lacs, and his monthly salary, Mukherjee was still struggling to manage the school’s expenses when a US-based NGO started funding his project. That, some individual donations, and the fact that most of the teachers in the school offer their services free of cost have helped Mukherjee in successfully keeping the school afloat all these years. Mukherjee’s sheer determination to provide a better quality of life to the children of one of the most deprived communities of this country just goes to show what a single man with a dream can achieve, and maybe one day, his students will do the same.
To know how you can help you can reach out to Arup Mukherjee via Twitter.
Feature image courtesy of Arup Mukherjee via Twitter.
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