Many a times we leave just by saying..poor roads, no school, no awareness hence, no education for children. It indeed takes considerable and deliberate effort to educate a child, more so when he is from one of the most backward villages. Hattigarh is one such village in Udalguri district of Assam and as the name suggests Hatigarh was a place were elephants were trapped for hunting. Even today the village is as primitive as before, closeness of jungle, wildlife and underdevelopment has left all with less opportunities including quality education. Nevertheless of its wilderness, Hattigarh has one of the leading Tea Gardens which have a good produce and number of labourers are employed in the tea gardens neighbouring the region. And it is these labourers’ children who were being left out of schooling, basically due to lack of any facility in the near vicinity. 38 years back some kind hearted officers in olive green identified this problem and there was a humble beginning of the concept of a small school for children belonging to poor and backward sections of the society.That was the beginning of the “Vikas Vidyalaya” at Hattigarh in Udalguri district of Assam with merely 120 students in five rooms converted into classrooms. “When you educate a boy child you educate a person but when you educate a girl child, you educate a family” said the Commanding Officer of Army and this was exactly the Vikas Vidyalaya is doing. The school at its inception could only aim to impart education to primary classes by managing teachers from within the forces deployed here and locals of the area.Vikas Vidyalaya grew from strength to strength and added students, teachers and infrastructure and today it stands tall with 567 students studying from Nursery to Class VII from the age groups of three to fourteen years. The school runs with self generating resources but provides quality education and is strictly following the syllabi slated by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The school is imparting quality education to children from the nearby Tea Gardens and poor people of the nearby villages. The school is also creating an employment opportunity for the locals and have involved them in this noble cause. According to Principal of the school kind hearted officers used to adopt children by voluntarily offering to pay tuition fees since the school was established in 1976. The principal also said that the school has been organising summer camps for teachers for better education.He further said that the school has also been organising vacation classes for slow learning students during puja vacation.The school in the last 38 years has produced number of students who has excelled in their careers and on them the school is proud off. To include, some of the ex students of Vikas Vidyalaya, are Tea Estate Manager, Software Engineers, Businessman, teachers at reputed schools and five of the school teachers are its ex student.
Speaking to us Mrs Eva, a teacher who has spent 15 years in this school mentioned how the school nurtured her and today she is committed to teach young children of the region who are deprived of quality education. Mrs Hanufa another teacher of the school teaching in Vikas Vidyalaya for last 20 years mentioned how our friends of the Nation in Olive Green laid, its foundation and is still committed to this noble cause. He also mentioned in the past one year, the school has made considerable improvement of the infrastructure and modern amenities like computer lab, DTH for recreation of students, Aqua Guard and Water Cooler for safe drinking water and by her experience she is confident that this will further attract common man of the region and in sending their wards to the school, who otherwise are not able to afford quality education for his children. Master Asique Ali a LKG student fights with his parent to come to school even when he is unwell, as he gets to meet his friends, gets to play and learn only at the school. No one dare not advice him to be absent from the school even a single day.Ranjita Ghosh, a teacher of the school told correspondents that she was proud to be a teacher of the school.She has been teaching in the school since 2012. It needs mention that she too had been a student of this school. More than 1700 students have passed out in the last 38 years and are now aspiring to broaden their scope by adding higher classes.
