A Recent update on the Political situation in the Darjeeling Hill Region

Looking out at the Himalayas from the village of Kaffer

▼This report has been sent to me by a friend

After 4 yrs Gokhaland agitation in Darjeeling The Gorkha leader and the people of Darjeeling has compromise with GTA (Gorkha Territorial Administration) for the time being. Though some people are not happy with this deal as we had fought for our own land GORKHALAND but still we are under the West bengal govt.

The press release was as follows:

"Termed as a "historic deal", a tripartite pact has been signed Monday between the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and the West Bengal and central governments, agreeing to establish an autonomous elected Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) in Darjeeling.

As per the deal, GTA will be more powerful than the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council formed during the time of Rajiv Gandhi in 1988. It will have 45 elected members to be elected within the next six months, according to online edition of The Hindu.

The agreement was signed by West Bengal Home Secretary G.D Gautama, Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary K.K.Pathak and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha General Secretary Roshan Giri at the Pintail village, about 8 km from Siliguri, the report said.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and GJM chief Bimal Gurung and the BJP MP from Darjeeling Jaswant Singh were present at the accord-signing ceremony, among others

The Indian home minister Chidambaram was quoted as saying, both the Government of West Bengal and the Government of India will stand by you and hold your hand.

"The task before you is stupendous. There will be many hurdles, but there is no hurdle that cannot be solved through dialogue, determination and spirit of give and take."

GTA will have jurisdiction in the three sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong as per the deal. However, the GJM has been demanding inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and Terai under the GTA.

Activists of the GJM and Gorkha Nari Morcha, and thousands of Nepali residents of the hills took to the stage, dancing and singing to celebrate the occasion, various Indian media reports said.

Indian experts and analysts were quoted by different media as expressing their remarks that the Darjeeling agreement would end long-standing Gorkhaland imbroglio.

Lets hope this ends all the unrest experienced in the past couple of years and provides a secure base for economic growth and peaceful co-existence.

Great News from the Head Teacher of St. Joseph's Gitdubling

The present Class X pupils

Results for the 31 pupils who sat their Board Examinations in Feb./March of this year.
(see previous post): 8 students got an A grade, 11 a 1st. Division and 12 a 2nd Division.

I am not able to go in January next year to work with the Class 10 pupils to help to prepare them for their Board Examinations, due to unexpected family commitments.
I do hope to arrive there by March 2012, but it would be very much appreciated, by the school staff and by the pupils, if a volunteer could travel to Gitdubling at the beginning of next year to help the present grade 10 pupils prepare for their Board examinations.

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