Originally published in The Times of India on 12 October 2014
Ever since flash floods caused by incessant rain damaged her house last month, Jashoda Mili, 12, has skipped school and stayed at home in the Boginodi village of Assam’s Dhemaji district. Along with her younger sister Dhanomaya, she has been busy applying a fresh coat of mud on all walls of their bamboo house. Like every year, most of the Dhemaji–which borders Arunachal Pradesh–was submerged by floods, washing away several homes and destroying crops.
“I know I have to finish this work with my sister. My elder brothers have to fetch food or bamboo, to reinforce the crumbling parts of the house,” Jashoda says.
Jashoda is one among many youngsters in Assam who can’t go to school. Some are busy with repair work at home while others have schools that are under water. According to a report, dated 30 September 2014 by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the recent of floods caused by torrential rains on September 21 and 22 has destabilised 1,382 schools–right from kindergarten to higher secondary schools.
Rebuilding the submerged schools is a time consuming affair which impacts the continuity of the children’s education. That several relief camps are set up in schools, for long periods, also disrupts their routine.
Some of the boys still manage to get to school on country boats though the commute can often be hazardous. Two years ago, five children drowned on their way to school. The girls are more wary of the boats, says Jamini Payeng, a prominent grassroots activist in the river island of Majuli.
“Boys jump in and out of the boats that operate during the floods to get to school or college. But girls fear getting onto the boat because they have been conditioned to think that they are the weaker sex,” she says.
The Assam floods didn’t hit the headlines like Kashmir but the story was no less grim. Through it is a flood-prone area, this year’s deluge was much worse, with ecologists blaming climate change and illegal quarrying in neighbouring Meghalaya for the disaster.
Since May, more than eight lank people have been affected by the deluge that have submerged 23 of the state’s 27 districts, and killed 68 people.
In Morigaon district, which is closer to the state capital Guwahati, Raj Ali’s house was submerged in the floods this year. After spending a week at a relief camp, he and his family returned to their home, which remains surrounded by water. He has 10 children; two daughters have already been married off, but the other children are unable to go to school regularly because the roads remain water-logged. Fatima Khatun of Simultola village in Morigaon district says children now have to walk greater distances to go to schools as the floods have damaged the roads. “If our daughters are provided with bicycles, they wouldn’t fall ill after walking for long in the sun,” she says.
Tarun Chandra Bora, district elementary education officer (DEEO) of Morigaon, who has done a five-year stint in Dhemaji, downplays the impact that the floods have had on children’s education. “Those who are interested in studies will maintain their rigour under any circumstance,” he declares.
Luckily for the children, not everyone is so complacent. Oxfam, for instance, is providing education rehabilitation kits, and Save The Children has been setting up child-friendly spaces across districts. Sanjoy Hazarika, director, Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research (C-NES), feels that classes should be organised at relief camps. He is working on a plan to develop a system of boat libraries to expose children in far-flung riverine islands to books other than their textbooks. “It is important for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan to think innovatively to ensure that children in the peripheries are not exluded,” he says.
As for the girls, there is another unhappy consequence of the deluge: trafficking. Monisha Behal, founder-member of Northeast Network, says the number of girls trafficked from Assam increases in the aftermath of ethnic violence and natural disasters like floods.