For ‘Rastar Master’, where there’s a wall, there’s a way
A teacher brings learning to unlettered women in the villages of West Bengal by converting walls in their neighbourhoods into ‘blackboards’. The ‘Rastar Master’ has also reduced the dropout rates of his students as their mothers and grandmothers now realise the importance of education.
Aishwarya Tripathi 2 Sep 2023 6:11 AM GMT
The 36-year-old teacher has painted the walls of the villages black and turned them into blackboards. This has made education accessible to the women who may be reluctant to come to a regular school to learn. All photos by arrangement.
Deep Narayan Nayak has become a household name in some of the most marginalised villages in the five districts of West Bengal. He has brought classroom teaching out into the streets and is called ‘Rastar Master’ or the master of the streets.
The 36-year-old teacher has painted the walls of the villages black and turned them into blackboards. This has made education accessible to the women who may be reluctant to come to a regular school to learn.
The ‘blackboard-on-the-wall’ project that began as an experiment in 2014, is presently being run in 50 such open air sites with the street classes being organised in five districts of West Bengal — Paschim Bardhaman, Purulia, Birbhum, Bankura and Hooghly.
When Nayak’s street classes gained fame on social media, teachers posted at remote villages facing similar education-related challenges picked up on the strategy.
Deep Narayan Nayak began educating the women folk in the open-air classrooms.
“They reached out to me to understand how to adopt this in their villages. After all, it takes counselling of the communities and special teachers’ training to replicate this,” Nayak said. The teacher travelled across the villages in the five districts to help the fellow teachers with the initial set up.
Presently, the project is extending education to almost 10,000 children belonging to Munda, Santhal and Oraon tribes, Scheduled Castes and Muslim communities, who in turn pass on what they learn to their mothers.
“I taught students for four to five years and then saw them drop out of the school — boys would quit education to become labourers and girls would get married. It would have been a waste of my tapasya [hard work] if my students continued to drop out and I wasn’t able to make any changes in the development of the community,” Nayak told Gaon Connection.
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He realised that just teaching the children would not change anything. He set up separate classes in the school for the mothers of his first-generation students to introduce them to the importance of education.
Presently, the project is extending education to almost 10,000 children belonging to Munda, Santhal and Oraon tribes, Scheduled Castes and Muslim communities, who in turn pass on what they learn to their mothers.
“But the approach failed. These were poor labourers who couldn’t afford to miss work, how could they possibly show up at these classes regularly at the expense of their daily wage,” he asked.
Where there is a ‘wall’ there is a way
Nayak decided on open air schools in the streets of the tribal villages in Jamuria area of Paschim Bardhaman district in West Bengal. He painted walls with a special paint made up of cow dung, coal dust and a few other ingredients and transformed them into blackboards. He started the project in Bamunia village in Purba Bardhaman(then known as Bardhaman. The district was bifurcated in 2017) district when he was posted there at a government primary school in 2014.
The ‘blackboard-on-the-wall’ project that began as an experiment in 2015.
Nayak has been a teacher since 2010 and is presently teaching at the state government’s Tilka Majhi Adibasi Free Primary School in Jamuria area of Paschim Bardhaman district. While his project began as a one man show, there are 300 volunteers who are working with him today.
From the chulha to the blackboard
In the tribal communities and villages, most inhabitants struggle to make ends meet. And, education of children hardly figures as a priority. In order to impress upon them the importance of sending their children to school and how it could change their lives for the better, Nayak began educating the women folk in the open-air classrooms.
He taught them letters of the alphabet, numbers and how to sign their names. He firmly believes that educating the woman in the family meant educating the entire family.
“The mothers could read and write while cooking on the chulhas [mud stove],” he said. Interestingly, while teaching is usually about knowledge transfer from the eldest to the youngest, Nayak first taught the youngest in these street classes, who then taught their mothers and dadi-nanis (grandmothers).
“It’s a fair exchange. The child teaches the maa and dadi-nani how to count and write their names, and the nani teaches the child jhoomar gaan (a local cultural song) — which ensures a progressive leap while remaining connected to the cultural roots. Three generations have been learning together,” he said proudly.
The teacher taught the women letters of the alphabet, numbers and how to sign their names.
Nayak was elated when he heard that a mother questioned a muneem (cashier) when she got less wages. She switched from giving her thumb impression to signing the payment receipt while collecting her daily wage and has also learnt counting.
“She could call out the fraud,” he said.
The road to success
The Rastar Master has managed to balance his unique project along with his regular government job.
“It’s not difficult. I give three hours in the morning from 6:30 to 9:30, and then after school 4 pm to 9 pm. The evening classes are crucial as they see the turnout of female adults who get done with the house chores only after 7 pm. First they were hesitant but when a mother came forward, others followed,” he said.
The Rastar Master has managed to balance his unique project along with his regular government job.
“We have 50 teachers, 100 helpers and 80 volunteers who take guest classes and provide motivational support to the rural folk,” he added.
The helpers are the people from the community who speak Santhali and are a crucial link in the chain he has forged. Today, mothers and daughters share books and sit for examinations together. The mothers who fare well in their studies are felicitated in the locally organised ceremony by Nayak’s team.
