DIBRUGARH, March 3: Jamuna Barhoi shows no nerves when she speaks to a gathering. The class ten student of Lahoal Girls’ High School cuts a striking figure with her confidence and articulate manner of speaking.
This young girl nurtures the dream of being a teacher. In the meantime, she has other priorities like persuading the traders of the nearby weekly market to use dustbins for garbage disposal. The Head Master of her school, Sunil Sarma, recalls how Barhoi and her friends used to hide behind others’ backs during school functions. All that changed when she and a few of her friends participated in a workshop on Sishu Panchayat. A senior teacher of Madarkhat Sita Ram Chowkhani (SRC) Higher Secondary School, Hiranya Gohain Senapati, has a similar story to tell. The members of the Sishu Panchayat in the school like Parthapratim Gohain and Bidyut Sagar Datta are disciplined and sincere in their studies now.
It all started when the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs, decided to form Sishu Panchayats in Northeast India. The project has been a successful one in other states. The Samiti collaborated with Asom unit of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust (KGNMT) organized the children living near the various centres of the Trust across the state to form Panchayats in September 2007. The initiative was taken to schools later when UNICEF came into the picture. The children’s organizations formed near the KGNMT centers became Anchalik Sishu Panchayats. The GSDS and its other collaborators has organized several workshops among school students in the region to train the young members to be active citizens. According to GSDS Program officer, Vedabhyas Kundu, the program has been so successful that Sishu Panchayat at Daimukhia in Tinsukia district has collaborated with the Gaon Panchayat to close down liquor shops. Students of fifteen schools in Dibrugarh district participated in the two workshops held at Dikom Labour Welfare Centre in January and February.
After coming back from the first workshop, Barhoi and her friends in the Panchayat undertook a cleanliness drive in their school. The members of the Sishu Panchayat in SRC Higher Secondary School, on the other hand, used some amount of the money allotted to the Sishu Panchayat by GSDS to hold a drawing competition in January. They also held a meeting and told their other friends and school mates about what they learnt in the workshop. These boys have named their organization as ‘Jagriti’ and get together every Saturday to discuss and decide on their future plans.
There has been positive changes in the conduct of the students of Lahoal Girls’ High School. When teachers are late for their classes, they take the trouble to find out the reason behind it. They never bothered to do so earlier. Saturdays were almost like unofficial holidays for the students with very few turning up for their classes. But, there has been a dramatic change in the attendance since the January workshop. The transformation was never more palpable than during the Saraswati Puja this year. The school used to be litter with throw-away packets and paper plates after the puja. Recalling her earlier experiences of the puja, the language teacher of the school, Junmoni Phulkonwar Chutia, said that it used to take several days to clean up the school on such occasions in earlier years. This year, the students cleaned out the school premises after the celebration was over. They have also taken care to put dustbins at convenient places and pointed them out to any erring student or grown up visitors.
The science teacher of Madarkhat Girls’ High School, Jayanta Dutta, also saw his students trying to apply whatever they had learnt in the workshops in their school and nearby areas. According to him, the Sishu Panchayat members hold meetings every Friday and the students has a constructive attitude now. Dutta notes that, they come to school with polished shoes and do things without being prompted.
However, it was initially very tough for Papori Baruah of GSDS to organize the students. When she approached the various educational institutions, the response was not always encouraging. Few teachers would attend the meetings she called in order to organize the students. It was only after the first workshop held at Dikom in January that their interests were aroused. Baruah expects to see more involvement from them.
Meanwhile, Barhoi and others nurses bigger dreams. The enthusiasm among the students has been such that the Sishu Panchayat at the Lahoal School wants to talk with local Gaon Panchayat over the state of road. They had a letterhead printed, as they felt grown ups would take them seriously only if they met them with the necessary formalities. Ruby Gogoi and other members of the Sishu Panchayat in Madarkhat Girls’ High School wants to fight alcoholism in the area. They plan to invite the office bearers of the local bazaar committee and talk with them about the use of dustbins in the market. Sunil Sarma said, that he has to keep a rein on his students so that they do not go overboard. He also thinks that the workshops has been too recent to make a difference among all students but is confident that it would eventually happen. Similar sentiment is also expressed by Hiranya Gohain Senapati. The impact on other students is yet to come, he adds.
However, the initiative of GSDS has sparked the interest of other schools in Lahoal block. According to Vedavyas Kundu, there has been several requests from educational institutions to open Sishu Panchayats. Meanwhile, the Samiti plans to strengthen the existing network of Sishu Panchayats. The Sentinel
This young girl nurtures the dream of being a teacher. In the meantime, she has other priorities like persuading the traders of the nearby weekly market to use dustbins for garbage disposal. The Head Master of her school, Sunil Sarma, recalls how Barhoi and her friends used to hide behind others’ backs during school functions. All that changed when she and a few of her friends participated in a workshop on Sishu Panchayat. A senior teacher of Madarkhat Sita Ram Chowkhani (SRC) Higher Secondary School, Hiranya Gohain Senapati, has a similar story to tell. The members of the Sishu Panchayat in the school like Parthapratim Gohain and Bidyut Sagar Datta are disciplined and sincere in their studies now.
It all started when the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs, decided to form Sishu Panchayats in Northeast India. The project has been a successful one in other states. The Samiti collaborated with Asom unit of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust (KGNMT) organized the children living near the various centres of the Trust across the state to form Panchayats in September 2007. The initiative was taken to schools later when UNICEF came into the picture. The children’s organizations formed near the KGNMT centers became Anchalik Sishu Panchayats. The GSDS and its other collaborators has organized several workshops among school students in the region to train the young members to be active citizens. According to GSDS Program officer, Vedabhyas Kundu, the program has been so successful that Sishu Panchayat at Daimukhia in Tinsukia district has collaborated with the Gaon Panchayat to close down liquor shops. Students of fifteen schools in Dibrugarh district participated in the two workshops held at Dikom Labour Welfare Centre in January and February.
After coming back from the first workshop, Barhoi and her friends in the Panchayat undertook a cleanliness drive in their school. The members of the Sishu Panchayat in SRC Higher Secondary School, on the other hand, used some amount of the money allotted to the Sishu Panchayat by GSDS to hold a drawing competition in January. They also held a meeting and told their other friends and school mates about what they learnt in the workshop. These boys have named their organization as ‘Jagriti’ and get together every Saturday to discuss and decide on their future plans.
There has been positive changes in the conduct of the students of Lahoal Girls’ High School. When teachers are late for their classes, they take the trouble to find out the reason behind it. They never bothered to do so earlier. Saturdays were almost like unofficial holidays for the students with very few turning up for their classes. But, there has been a dramatic change in the attendance since the January workshop. The transformation was never more palpable than during the Saraswati Puja this year. The school used to be litter with throw-away packets and paper plates after the puja. Recalling her earlier experiences of the puja, the language teacher of the school, Junmoni Phulkonwar Chutia, said that it used to take several days to clean up the school on such occasions in earlier years. This year, the students cleaned out the school premises after the celebration was over. They have also taken care to put dustbins at convenient places and pointed them out to any erring student or grown up visitors.
The science teacher of Madarkhat Girls’ High School, Jayanta Dutta, also saw his students trying to apply whatever they had learnt in the workshops in their school and nearby areas. According to him, the Sishu Panchayat members hold meetings every Friday and the students has a constructive attitude now. Dutta notes that, they come to school with polished shoes and do things without being prompted.
However, it was initially very tough for Papori Baruah of GSDS to organize the students. When she approached the various educational institutions, the response was not always encouraging. Few teachers would attend the meetings she called in order to organize the students. It was only after the first workshop held at Dikom in January that their interests were aroused. Baruah expects to see more involvement from them.
Meanwhile, Barhoi and others nurses bigger dreams. The enthusiasm among the students has been such that the Sishu Panchayat at the Lahoal School wants to talk with local Gaon Panchayat over the state of road. They had a letterhead printed, as they felt grown ups would take them seriously only if they met them with the necessary formalities. Ruby Gogoi and other members of the Sishu Panchayat in Madarkhat Girls’ High School wants to fight alcoholism in the area. They plan to invite the office bearers of the local bazaar committee and talk with them about the use of dustbins in the market. Sunil Sarma said, that he has to keep a rein on his students so that they do not go overboard. He also thinks that the workshops has been too recent to make a difference among all students but is confident that it would eventually happen. Similar sentiment is also expressed by Hiranya Gohain Senapati. The impact on other students is yet to come, he adds.
However, the initiative of GSDS has sparked the interest of other schools in Lahoal block. According to Vedavyas Kundu, there has been several requests from educational institutions to open Sishu Panchayats. Meanwhile, the Samiti plans to strengthen the existing network of Sishu Panchayats. The Sentinel
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