Over two decades ago, Madivi Veeramma, a Koya tribal woman, fell in love with both education and Madivi Veerayya. Amid the turmoil of Left-wing extremism in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the couple, now in their 40s, embarked on an academic journey that set in motion a wave of change for thousands of tribal youths in the Godavari Valley. The movement’s ripples continue to be seen through the community today.
Veeramma and Veerayya’s story began in Ramannapalem, a Koya village nestled between the Sokileru and Sabari rivers in Chintoor agency of Alluri Sitarama Raju district.
In 2002, the village barely had people with formal education. There was only one resident, who had completed class X, to have a government job, working as an assistant in the Sericulture Department. There were no graduates while school dropouts were countless.
Today, Ramannapalem boasts nearly 30 government employees. Among them is Veeramma, an Anganwadi teacher, who had dropped out of primary school but later went on to complete her postgraduate studies in Sociology, the highest academic qualification in the village. Veerayya, now a Secondary Grade Teacher in a Konda Reddi tribal village, resumed his studies after dropping out in the ninth grade and working as a lorry cleaner.
The catalyst for this transformation was the academic movement called ‘Koitur Bata’ (Koyas’ Path, in English), which Veeramma describes as the ‘Mother of All Tribes’ in the Godavari Valley. “Many government employees in our village, including two teachers and two Anganwadi workers, rebuilt our academic lives through Koitur Bata,” she says.
The seeds of Koitur Bata were sown in 2001, on the banks of the Sabari River. This initiative was the brainchild of 55 tribal school dropouts who launched it immediately after completing a short-term academic project called Neo Literacy Programme (NLP) funded by Oxfam India, a non-profit working to support women and children, and fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. The NLP prepared them to appear for their class VII final examinations.
A majority of them hailed from Ramannapalem and its surrounding villages. A large number were girls, all passionate about continuing their education.
During a decisive meeting, these 55 dropouts convinced the village elders of Ramannapalem to support the academic movement by allocating a portion of common land. It was at this meeting that the movement was unanimously christened ‘Koitur Bata’.
Pandu Kamtekar, one of the founders and teachers of Koitur Bata. | Photo Credit: T. Appala Naidu
Yadaiah Gangadevi, a facilitator of Oxfam India’s NLP project, chaired the meeting and agreed to lead, teaching Social Science and English. His colleague, Pandu Kamtekar, took on the subjects of Mathematics and English.
At the village entrance, under two ancient Mahua trees, the first community-based school, Koitur Bata, was established specifically for the dropouts of the Godavari Valley. A two-decade-old blackboard placed between the two trees remains intact even today.
On the academic path
The Godavari Valley, home to the Koya, Naikpod, and the particularly vulnerable tribal group Konda Reddi, saw the school initially open for five days a month. The first batch of 55 students who had completed class VII were ready to take the next step: being groomed to appear for Class X (Secondary School Certificate) examinations under the ‘Open School’ mode.
“For class X, we designed a nine-month rigorous academic and residential programme. It posed many challenges in terms of providing sufficient and safe boarding facilities on the campus, otherwise an agricultural field. We were also burdened with ensuring safe stay, food, and care for female students. Despite all odds, we never took a pause,” shares Yadaiah, now 60.
Koya tribal writer Dummiri Bheemamma recalls how several female students even attended school with their infants in their arms: “At night, they used to sleep at the houses of their female classmates in Ramannapalem due to lack of space and shelter on the school campus for the first two years. For almost half a year, all the students, irrespective of gender, would go to the forest together, and gather wood and bamboo logs for the construction of the school building.”
At this stage, students used to bring rice and other food commodities from their homes for their stay at the school. “I attended Koitur Bata school along with my newborn daughter, and passed class 10 in 2002. Each one of us used to share all the chores, including sweeping the classrooms, cooking, and cleaning the campus and utensils,” says Midiyam Ramanamma, one of those 55 dropouts who lives in Sutooru village by the Sokileru river.
She adds that her mother had never allowed her to attend school, believing that education was not necessary for a girl. “But I never let my desire to study die. At 18, I performed our Koya tribal dance, Kommu Koya, at the State-wide padayatra organised by a group of NGOs against the [still incomplete] Polavaram national irrigation project. I enrolled in Koitur Bata in 2001 to continue my studies by convincing my husband,” says Ramanamma, now working as a tribal rights activist. She has served as a member of the Child Welfare Committeein the district, but discontinued her studies in the final year of graduation.
In 2008, she was abducted by a group of members of Salwa Judum, a State-sponsored vigilante movement against the Naxalites, while returning from a meeting in Chhattisgarh on the internal displacement of victims of the conflict between the Naxals and paramilitary forces. The Salwa Judum believed that she was supporting the tribals of Chhattisgarh who had settled in Andhra Pradesh and were reluctant to return to their home State fearing for their safety.
Between 2001-12, at least 2,000 tribal dropouts of all ages in the Godavari Valley were provided free education at Koitur Bata in Ramannapalem village. Most of them completed Class 10. In 2003, Koitur Bata was registered as an NGO.
“Nearly 40% of them were female students, some already married, but their families encouraged them. Many Koya women sent their husbands to Koitur Bata, while men supported their wives in pursuing studies. Such revolutionary thoughts of the then tribal society contributed to academic and social transformation in the valley,” asserts Pandu Kamtekar, who later moved to Warangal (now in Telangana) to become a clinical psychologist. As the first teacher at Koitur Bata, he remained associated with the school until it closed in 2012 due to a funding crunch.
Break from tradition
In V.R. Puram mandal of ASR district lies Tekuluru village, home to the Konda Reddi tribe. This village, the last settlement before the Papikonda Hill Range, consists of 90 households, all of which have sustained themselves for generations through bamboo craft. This craft dates back to the 1940s, as documented by Austrian anthropologist Christoph Von Furer-Haimendorf in his series titled ‘The Aboriginal Tribes of Hyderabad - The Reddis of The Bison Hills’.
“I was the only girl from my village to enrol in Koitur Bata school in 2007,” recalls Sootru Subbalakshmi, from Tekuluru.
“I completed the nine-month course and passed class 10, despite dropping out three times due to poor health. My husband, Payam Muttayya, from the Koya tribe, encouraged me to study while we were in a relationship,” she says, her face beaming with pride. Subbalakshmi and Muttayya got married after she was hired as an Anganwadi teacher.
Koya tribal writer Dummiri Bheemamma with her book of proverbs and poems. | Photo Credit: T. Appala Naidu
“My childhood friends regret discontinuing their studies after seeing that I have secured a job,” she adds. Her husband works as a Mahatma Gandhi NREGA assistant.
“I am determined to provide the best education for my three boys [13, 11, and 9]. They are also serious about their studies,” says Subbalakshmi, who takes pride in riding a scooter to work.
Spreading wings
In 2005, Koitur Bata opened its second branch in Gunjedi village of Warangal district (earlier in erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh). Until 2010, this branch groomed around 500 Koya dropouts, 40% of whom were female students, for their class X exams.
In Jeerlaghat of Adilabad district (now in Telangana), Koitur Bata trained four batches of 100 students each, including 40 female dropouts, to prepare for class X. Here, the focus was on four tribes: Gond, Kollam, Nayakopod, and Pardan.
“We concluded our efforts in 2012 after opening a school for the Chenchu tribe in Vikarabad, Rangareddy district (now in Telangana). By then, we could no longer afford to pay our teachers,” explains Yadaiah.
“Throughout our journey, financial aid came from the government through various programmes and funds from the Members of Parliament Local Area Development scheme,” he says.
The impact of the Koitur Bata academic movement is evident across numerous fields. “Without Koitur Bata, the tribes of the Godavari Valley would not have their identity as nurses, police personnel, government teachers, writers, artists, Anganwadi teachers, sarpanches, Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency members, and panchayat ward members. They all share a common identity of the Koitur Bata family. Their lives would not have been as good as they are now, given the social conditions of that time,” says Veerayya.
A decade after the movement wound up, the name Koitur Bata still resonates deeply with those who live here, symbolising a special bond and shared legacy of transformation and progress.
Push to Koya language
In addition to the rigorous academic sessions, Koitur Bata nurtured the literature and language skills of students. Within a decade, nearly 30 students from Koya and Konda Reddi tribes emerged writers. Today, almost 10 of them have published works focusing on children’s literature, poems, and proverbs drawn from their respective tribal life and culture.
The first-generation leading writers include Tellam Krishna, Bheemamma, Madivi Veerayya, Punem Parvathi, Sootru Ramana Reddi, and Murla Krishna Reddi. Bheemamma from Ramannapalem has already published two books of poems on Koya tribal culture, life, and society, though she had discontinued her graduation degree studies. “My compilation of Telugu stories on Koya society is in the pipeline. It was at Koitur Bata school where I honed my writing skills and could give voice to my observations on the changes in our Koya culture,” says Bheemamma, 50.
In 2021, Yadaiah launched a literary project, under the banner of Koitur Bata, to support tribal writers and promote the Koya language. Funded by Visakhapatnam-based NGO Samata, the project aims to teach and encourage Koya language-speaking in all government schools in Chintoor agency.
Koitur Bata alumnus Tellam Krishna, a 40-year-old dropout-turned-writer, and Moosam Suryanarayana, 45, an alumnus of Koitur Bata,were recruited as full-time language volunteers. They have been covering 150 government schools in the Koya agency, with their salaries paid by Samata. “We visit different schools every day. Many families do not speak Koya at home. We are slowly introducing the beauty of the language to students through poem recitation. Their response is laudable; they are eager to learn new words and Koya songs,” says Krishna, whose wife encouraged him to continue his studies after they had two children. He lives in Tellamvarigudem village, neighbouring Ramannapalem.
By the end of 2023, the Andhra Pradesh State Tribal Welfare Department appointed 15 native speakers in 12 primary schools under the Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education (MTB-MLE) initiative. In an interview with The Hindu, then Integrated Tribal Development Authority (ITDA)-Chintoor Project Officer Suraj Ganore had said that native speakers would teach the government-prescribed syllabus in Koya language.
Reflecting on his journey with Koitur Bata during a recent visit to Ramannapalem earlier this month, Kamtekar says, “My life has been intertwined with the lives of thousands of tribals in the Godavari Valley. I take pride in my journey. They consider me family, and I treat it as a reward for my service.”
The Godavari Valley now awaits the release of his book, ‘Atmaghosha’, a compilation of stories about those displaced by the Polavaram project. Bokkili Nageswara Rao, a fine arts lecturer and Koitur Bata alumnus who went on to study at Hyderabad Central University, contributed cartoons for ‘Atmaghosha’ as a silent witness to the changes in Koya society.
Ramannapalem village, where the seed of Koitur Bata movement was sown, is now free from school dropouts, with girls enrolling for college education as an unwritten policy. A few weeks ago, with the onset of the monsoon, a group of Koitur Bata alumni gathered for the first time under the two Mahua trees, recollecting the time spent under their shade.
Published - July 12, 2024 07:46 am IST
