Jaipur: People of a remote village in Rajashthan’s Udaipur built a six-kilometer road to ensure the only teacher who had come to their village after 20 long years continues to stay there and does not seek transfer due to poor basic infrastructure.
The Piplikhet village is around 150 km away from the district headquarters and is home to 200 families who are deprived of basic facilities such as roads, electricity, and telecom connectivity.
Teacher was not aware of the challenges
In 2002, a primary school was sanctioned here by the government with a single contractual teacher under the Shiksha Mitra scheme. However, it was only after 20 years in June 2022, that the school got a permanent teacher named Samarth Meena. As this was Meena’s first posting as a teacher, he did not know what challenges he was going to face.
Samarth said that when he came to join the school he had to cross a river with knee-deep water and a rough and bumpy six-kilometer-long stretch on foot as there was no other alternative.
Samarth revived the school
Facing all odds, Samarth spent a year in the village and started reviving the school by enrolling more students. There were only 32 students when he joined the school and soon the number reached 70.
However, looking at the problems of road and telecom connectivity, Samarth was trying to get a transfer.
In June this year, when the villagers came to know that Samarth was looking for a transfer from the village due to the road connectivity issue, they called a meeting and promised the teacher and children to build a road by Independence Day.
“Thankful to the villagers”
A team of 35 people was formed the very next day and villagers started building the road. After 50 days of hard work, a kutcha road is almost near completion. Samarth said, “I am delighted and thankful to the villagers for the effort they have put in to make this road. It will help not only me but the students and villagers also. It showed their commitment to education and a better future for their children.”