top of page
Search

School Access in Vidarbha: The Distance Still Left to Cover

School Access in Vidarbha
School Access in Vidarbha

There’s a certain silence in some villages of eastern Maharashtra when school bells ring. Not because children are absent but because schools are.


The bell, the chatter, the morning assembly, they're missing in the corners of Vidarbha where learning begins only after a long walk, sometimes six kilometres or more. And on some days, that walk doesn’t happen at all.



When the Nearest School Isn’t Near


Government records may suggest that education is within reach of nearly every child in Maharashtra. The Right to Education Act prescribes that primary schools should exist within one kilometre of every habitation and upper-primary ones within three.


On average, 95.5 percent of Indian villages are said to have a secondary school within five kilometres, and 90.5 percent have a higher secondary school within seven. These numbers are meant to be reassuring. But the ground tells another story.


In Vidarbha, where vast tracts of forest and hilly terrain separate clusters of homes, a kilometre can feel like five. It’s not rare for students, especially in parts of Melghat or interior Gadchiroli, to walk multiple kilometres daily, crossing rivers or trekking uphill, just to reach the classroom.

While larger villages may enjoy some basic school infrastructure, thousands of scattered hamlets known as wadis still remain outside this comfortable circle.


These are the settlements where families hesitate to send their daughters to faraway schools and where the physical effort of getting to school slowly drains children's motivation to continue.


For primary education, the system appears functional. Most children enrol and attend regularly. But the picture changes with age. Secondary education often requires students to move beyond their village, and that’s where many stop altogether.


In some districts, dropout rates at the secondary level cross 15 to 19 percent. For girls, this step becomes even harder. Concerns about travel safety, societal pressure, and limited infrastructure, such as proper toilets in schools, are enough to end their formal education at 13 or 14.

The state’s network of ashram shalas, residential schools for tribal children, offers a partial remedy. They serve some of the most remote areas, but they often face their own shortcomings. Buildings are in disrepair, inconsistent staffing and poor oversight.


In places like Gadchiroli, where settlements are often separated by dense forest, such schools are essential but far from flawless.


A child in a Bhandara hamlet may have the will to study, but a will alone doesn’t replace a classroom. When that classroom is miles away with no reliable transport, school becomes a place they dream of reaching rather than a daily destination.



Enrolled, Then Dropped

School Enrollments in Vidarbha
School Enrollments in Vidarbha

Across Vidarbha’s villages, most children start their schooling journey. Primary enrolment numbers are strong. According to recent data, more than 98 percent of children aged 6 to 14 are enrolled in school, and girls are keeping pace with boys.


However, this encouraging start begins to taper off when pupils transition into higher classes.

The dropout curve begins subtly. Initially, students might skip classes due to farm work or household chores. Then, the commute grows tiresome. For some, it's the pull of an early wage.


For others, it’s simply the absence of encouragement or an example to follow. By the time they’re expected to begin secondary school, the numbers shrink dramatically.


In Yavatmal, dropout rates for Classes IX and X hover around 19 percent. In Gadchiroli and Buldhana, the figures stay similarly high.


This trend persists across both tribal and non-tribal areas. The reasons vary but share a common outcome: by the time students are old enough to write board exams, many have already left the system. Those who stay often rely on additional support, hostels, scholarships, or local mentors.


Some initiatives have attempted to plug this leak. Residential schools, bridge courses, and peer support networks have helped a fraction of students reach higher education.


Mentoring efforts in districts like Yavatmal have helped first-generation learners find places in top institutions. These are welcome steps, but they remain exceptions in a system that still loses too many students too soon.

It is not always poverty that leads to these decisions, but the perception that education beyond a certain point holds little practical value. Especially in households where no adult has experienced its benefits, pushing a teenager to attend a distant high school becomes difficult to justify. Without visible returns, school begins to feel optional.


So, a pattern emerges. A generation begins school with hope but leaves before that hope can be realised.



A School Building Isn’t a School


Infrastructure is where the gaps become visible. Vidarbha has improved the basics. Over 96 percent of its schools now have toilets, and nearly all have drinking water. Yet, the condition of these facilities varies widely. A toilet might exist but lack doors, water, or cleaning schedules.


Drinking water could mean a single handpump, and classrooms may consist of cracked walls and broken fans.

In many schools, electricity remains unreliable. While 85 percent of schools report access to power, that access is often intermittent in rural areas. Without electricity, there’s little chance of meaningful digital learning.


Computers, when available, are often outdated or unused. In some tribal schools, a single computer serves hundreds of students with no dedicated teacher to operate it.


Transport remains a persistent issue. In cities, private vehicles or buses fill the gap, but rural children walk. If the school lies across a flooded stretch or up a forest path, attendance suffers. A child living in a dam-affected village like



Instead of spreading resources thin across thousands of underused schools, authorities now propose merging small schools into larger “cluster schools”.

These centralised institutions are meant to offer better teaching, labs, and sports facilities. However, this shift depends heavily on reliable transport, something that still doesn’t exist in many areas.


Digital education, once seen as a leveller, has only widened the divide. The pandemic revealed just how few children in villages had smartphones, let alone internet connections. In areas where families share one basic phone between four or five people, the idea of attending online school felt alien. While the worst of the crisis has passed, the gap remains.


Smart classrooms and e-learning remain inaccessible for thousands of rural students.

The line between having a school and having a functioning school is often blurry. But for a student, that line can define whether education continues or stops.


Some districts in Vidarbha offer more promise than others. Nagpur, being more urbanised, has relatively better infrastructure and lower dropout rates. Schools here are more likely to have functioning facilities, subject teachers, and a reliable schedule. Similarly, parts of


Amravati and Wardha have benefitted from historical investments in education and have seen positive trends in student retention and exam results.

However, even in better-performing districts, not all areas are equal. Peripheral villages, especially those with smaller populations or those located near forests or hills, still face the same problems of limited school access, under-resourced staff, and irregular teaching hours.

To address this, education policies are slowly evolving.


Schemes like Samagra Shiksha have been introduced to improve school quality through better training, infrastructure grants, and learning aids. In some blocks, bicycles have been provided to girls to reduce dropout caused by long distances. Mobile libraries and weekend tutoring are also being tried in limited areas.



Perhaps most crucially, local movements are helping where official efforts fall short. Volunteer groups and educational NGOs are working to mentor rural students, prepare them for exams, and assist with paperwork for higher education. Their work is often small-scale, but it reaches students who might otherwise slip through the cracks.


Yet, for most villages in Vidarbha, change feels gradual. A new classroom takes years to build.

A teacher may be posted but not show up. A scheme might be announced but arrive late or only in part. Parents, too, adapt slowly. Their trust in education grows with each student who succeeds and falters with each promise unfulfilled.


References




Kommentare

Mit 0 von 5 Sternen bewertet.
Noch keine Ratings
Rating hinzufügen
bottom of page