Long treks to lost chance: Children enrolled in remote Barwani school miss out on board exams

Barwani: As Class 5 MP state board examinations commenced across the state from Friday, 82 children in Khedi Faliya of Devgarh gram panchayat under Pati block in Barwani district could not appear for the exam as they could not attend school for the entire academic year. The reason: Nearest school was far and the approach was through dense forest and risky.Khedi Faliya, a remote tribal hamlet located nearly 55 km from the district headquarters, comprised around 40 households and 82 children in the 6 to 14 age group. Despite this, there was no primary school in the hamlet. Villagers Mohan and Kirasha said the absence of a local school forced children out of school. "There is no school in our settlement. The nearest one is about 4 km away, and the route passes through dense forest," they said. Parents feared sending young children along the isolated path due to the presence of wild animals and the lack of safe connectivity. During the monsoon, streams and uneven terrain made the journey even more difficult.As a result, children who should be preparing for examinations were instead occupied with household responsibilities. Many never enrolled, while others gradually dropped out due to irregular attendance caused by distance and safety concerns.Residents said they repeatedly approached public representatives and the education department, demanding the establishment of a primary school in Khedi Faliya. However, they alleged that neither a survey was conducted nor any concrete step was taken so far. "If a school is opened here, our children will definitely attend regularly," villagers asserted.Block resource coordinator (BRC) Dinesh Chauhan from Pati block endorsed the claims of villagers and told TOI that a report regarding the issue was prepared and sent on Feb 18 to the district project coordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Barwani.Chauhan said the children were offered the option of studying while residing at the Ashram school in Bokrata, but families declined due to safety concerns and their preference for a school within the hamlet itself. The report sent to the DPC stated that the nearest primary school was about 2 km away, while the nearest middle school was 3 km from the village. The route to these schools included a stream and forested stretches, raising concerns among parents about safety, particularly due to the fear of wild animals.In-charge district project coordinator and In-charge district education officer Ashraf Khan told TOI the matter came to his notice. He stated that several children were officially enrolled in school, but their parents were unable to send them due to the long distance and the unsafe route.