St. Joseph's Class 10

The girls from class 10. They are staying in a Community hall owned by the Mother Theresa Sisters, in Kalimpong, during their Board Examinations

2010 This is the first Class 10 to be completed at St. Joseph's School Gitdubling. From this stage the pupils sit their Board Examinations. These are set by an external Examination Board and the pupils travel to a Central Examination Hall to sit the Exams.

Whilst I was in Gitdubling, in Jan/ Feb of this year, I worked with the pupils who were able to attend the holiday classes, helping them to prepare for their exams. Prior to their departure for Kalimpong, where their exam centre was, there was talk that the Exams would be cancelled due to the strike action., ( see previous entry of 6/4/2011). however the strike organisers relented and allowed the pupils to travel to Kalimpong and also allowed the examinations to take place, beginning on the 23/02/2011.

Thank heavens, as the pupils were geared up to preforming , as well as they possibly could, to say "thank you" to all who had helped to educate them to this stage. Prior to 2010, many of the pupils were unable to progress past Grade 9 in 2009, Grade8 in 2008 and Grade7 in 2007, as the school was expanding its grading year by year. When they move from St. Joseph's to a School which provides education to a higher grade, than at ST. Joseph's, the parent can often not afford to pay the school and hostel fees, which are necessary as the pupils would have too far to travel to commute daily. Leaving school at 15/16 yrs of age, often led to unplanned pregnancies and young marriages. Also unemployment is rife in the Hill Region and the family plots of land small and unable to sustain extra mouths to feed.

Expanding the School to accommodate pupils to Grade 10 has involved a lot of extra expense: the building of a new primary section. the employment of suitably qualified teachers and all the equipment and materials necessary to qualify as a School registered to educate pupils to Grade 10

This year , hopefully all the pupils from last year's Class 10 ,will progress to Classes 11 and 12 in other schools. Many of the pupils are being sponsored. There was only 23 pupils in Class 10 in 2010, there are many more this year.

HCET is now supporting 5 teachers in the Infant Department of St. Joseph's as well as the 7 teachers of St. Mary's Tribal School, Nok Dara.

We also gave £1050 towards purchasing books for a library in 2010. Prior to this the teachers and pupils had no access to any books other than their school text books.

Hopefully we will continue to be able to support St. Joseph's and St. Mary's for a few more years.

I am very grateful to all those who have helped in so many ways since HCET was set up in August 2007.

Yours Gratefully,

Pauline MacInnes

St. Mary's visits St. Joseph's Feb 2011

Whilst I was in the Darjeeling/ Kalimpong Hill Region this year for 7 weeks in Jan/Feb there was a lot of political unrest , resulting in frequent prolonged Bundhas. ( see post "My Visit to Gitdubling Jan/Feb 2011")
The schools were not permitted to open on their planned date for the begining of the new school year and my visit was drawing to a close. About 7 days before I was due to leave the area, to set out for my flight home from Delhi, I fell going down a muddy slope and dislocated my left knee. This put paid to my being able to visit any more villages, as the terraine there is very rough and hilly.
Some of the pupils and 2 of their teachers from St. Mary's Tribal School walked from Nok Dara to Gitdubling, a 2.5 hour walk, to visit me and to collect letters sent by Dunbar Primary School to them.
They also wrote some letters and made a collage for Dunbar Primary.

Visiting Familes in their own Village Jan/Feb 2011

My visit to Gitdubling in Jan/Feb 2011

In December of 2010, I got an over whelming urge to visit our project in the Gitdubling area of the Kalimpong Hill Region. I felt that this was not really possible, as I help one of my daughters, by looking after her 2 children one day a week, to enable her to go to work. I was chatting to my youngest daughter on the phone when I mentioned my desire to go to Gitdubling. She immediately arranged baby sitting for my 2 charges and talked me into going; which wasn't hard.
I left for West Bengal early in January 2011, arriving in Gitdubling on the 12th.
During my visit I was kept busy coaching pupils from classes 8, 9 and 10 in English.
The pupils were in the school, St. Joseph's, for extra tuition during their long winter vocation. Class 10 pupils were preparing for their Board Examinations. This was the first time for a Class 10 from St. Joseph's School, to be presented for these Examinations. There was a lot of pressure on them to do well.
However all was not straight forward. There was a lot of political agitation going on in the months of Jan/ Feb 2011. The most prominent form agitation takes in this region is the calling of Bandhas ie. strikes, which must be strictly adhered to by all. Violence and retaliation are common if anyone dares to break a strike. The Gourka party who want independence for the Hill Region from West Bengal,becoming an in dependant state within India, rule the people by intimidation.
As there was no public transport permitted to run and all shops were closed, many of the pupils were unable to attend the classes as they were unable to get to the school and also were needed by their families to help forage for food in the jungle.
They eat lots of plant roots and plants to supplement their diet when necessary. The schools were not permitted to reopen until 2 weeks after their usual opening date. However the Board examinations did take place and results should be published in May.

The weather this year in This Region was much colder than any one could remember.
The people do not have adequate clothing; there is no heating of any kind and the majority of the houses do not have glass in their windows and buildings are not wind proof. They cook on wood burning stoves made from mud. The villagers are not allowed to cut down trees so have to forage for fallen wood in the jungle. I was very fortunate to have my sleeping bag with me and warm clothing, even so I was cold much of the time. Despite the inconveniences of the Bandhas and the cold, I was very happy to be there and hopefully was of some benefit to the pupils whom I tried to help in their studies.