Chakrayabanda is behind a hill and like any remote tribal village one comes to know of its existence only after reaching there.
But reaching it is an uphill task, literally.
Firstly, it has no road. Secondly, a part of the hilly tract was levelled and gradient reduced by villagers themselves hiring a machine and spending Rs.40,000 recently. And now, there is no guarantee that the auto-rickshaw one travels by does not topple on the hilly track.
Chakrayabanda, a hamlet of Chintapalle panchayat, is inhabited by 30 families of the particularly vulnerable tribal group, Khond. Apparently, tribal children at Chakrayabanda have no school to go.
Tambelu Bujjibabu, a tribal from the village who passed D.Ed., teaches them on being employed by NGOs.
He has divided the 30 students, up to class five, into groups to teach various subjects. For one, he teaches alphabets in Telugu through the tribal Khond language. For the older group, he teaches basic English, that too using Telugu and Khond.
That the village has no school was brought to the notice of mandal-level officials at Ravimanupakala, about 2.5-km away, at a meeting a few months ago. Ravimanupakala has a school, but for the children it is difficult to reach there. Soon after that, as a part of the Smart Village concept of the State Government, funds have been raised involving two NGOs — Sneha Hastalu and First Step, according to general partner for smart village of Lammasingi Ganjivarapu Srinivas.
About Rs.60,000 was spent on building a room with asbestos roofing. Besides, furniture, an almirah, books, and stationery were also provided. Mr. Bujjibabu got selected in the DSC test for recruitment of teachers. Once the appointments are made, the students will be back to square one – without means to go to school and without a teacher in the village.
Mandal-level officials have deputed a teacher from the Ravimanupakala school. But since the village has no access, he is not coming there, it is learnt. If the official plans work, the village may soon have a road. “We have proposed a road under the MNREGS. Estimates will be prepared and sanction will be obtained by the month-end,” says Mandal Development Officer Premakar. Mid-day meal for the children will also be proposed, he says. Until then, for Chakrayabanda, it’s a case of so near yet so far.
