Teachers of St. Mary’s Tribal School
St. Mary’s is a small tribal school situated in the hill village of Nok Dara in the Kalimpong Hill Region of West Bengal in India.
Nok Dara is a very isolated village; there is no hard surfaced road into the village, so no vehicular access. There is also no industry in the hill villages of this Region. The people are poor financially. They practice subsistence farming and exchange excess produce for other products which they need. Saleable produce eg eggs, bananas and some vegetables will be taken to the weekly market in GitDubling, which is a two to three hour walk over very rough, hilly terrain, they carry their goods in a cloth bag strapped around their foreheads. The money paid for this produce will be used to buy items like: salt, oil for cooking, soap and cloth for making clothes.
The children also have to wear school uniforms, this is very important to them.
Nearly all children in India wear school uniforms. The parents will do without many necessities to provide a school uniform for their children.
Some of the teachers and children have to walk a long distance to school every day.
They have school on a Saturday morning as well.
When the children go home from school, they have to help with many chores eg. collecting wood for the clay stove to cook the evening meal, clean the rice, prepare the vegetable and fetch water. These are just a few of the chores they have to do every day.
They work hard and have no time for play.
