The Philanthropist

This man from the Musahar community, gave away his only bit of land for a government school building.

The self-effacing Harikesh Rawat has made a contribution to the cause of elementary education that is a rare example of philanthropy. He gave away the tiny piece of land he had, his only possession, so that a government school could be built to enable the children of his habitation with access to education. The Primary School Indira Awas, Kariya in Bihar's Gopalganj district,  is built on this land. It's not much of a school, some stones held together with plaster, a dash of paint, but it's right next to the basti

Harikesh belongs to the traditionally landless Musahar [literally: rat eater] caste.

“I don’t have any land now,” he says, “I did this five years ago so that the Dalit kids would be able to have a school within the habitation, to stop them dropping out before they reaches the fifth class.”

Forty six year old Harikesh completed his secondary school in 1984 and went on to earn his living as a skilled mason. His income until recently was an average of Rs 250 a day on city construction sites. He’s given that up for a time to serve his community as a Tola Sevak. [ A kind of nanny in  a goverment of Bihar programme. See my earlier post for an explanation] Why give up an occupation that fetched him around five thousand rupees a month for one that pays practically nothing? Why not leave it for a younger man to handle?

The answer comes for the people, young and old, who are present. “He has given his land to build a school. Who else can be more interested in our children’s welfare? Can there be a better person to see that the our kids are on the right track?” they say. Harikesh has been TS for since 2009.

“One of my sons is in Ladakh, working for the Border Roads. I put all my sons in school, but they didn’t complete their education, because of the circumstances at the time. There is much more hope that these children will make it to secondary school. Now schools provide a midday meal. There are uniforms supplied. And for the Mahadalit children who join the Utthan programme, there are learning materials and a place to study that their parents cannot afford. I am a tola sevak  because I want to play a role in this. Also, in my neighbourhood, I am, in a way, a community leader.”

Unfortunately, say the people of the habitation, the teachers assigned to the primary school are irregular, the headmaster is prejudiced against the lower castes and flaunts his political connections. The VSS is dominated by the headmaster here, they say. The neighbourhood expressed their fear. They said, ‘if we raise issues or file a complaint, the powerful vested interests, file false reports in police stations and terrorise us.’

Harikesh has a different opinion. “The midday meal is fairly regular. If the officers of the Bihar education department and others come for monitoring regularly, most of the problems will be sorted out. Proper checks and balances could be put in place without favouring the empowered people, then things will improve.

“I am hopeful. Even if the Tola Sevak programme is closed down. People will continue to send their kids to school and demand the benefits for their children.”