LAHAN: The children of the Harawacharawa and Musahar community here have been drawn to education in recent period, thanks to the free classes run by the local Shreepurraj Community Development Center.
The Harawacharawa is a term that refers to the section of the Musahar community who previously worked as indentured labourers on the farms of their landlords. This system of labour is already abolished now but those families who worked under this system are the poorest of the poor within the Musahar community.
Until a few years back only very few Musahar children went to school. But the number of children from this community going to school has risen notably in recent years.
The Musahar children from Kanakpatti, Dangrahi and Mohanpur in Shambhunath Municipality of Saptari district have started going to school regularly these days. Kanakpatti, Dangrahi and Mohanpur are areas with significant population of Harawacharawa and Mushahar community.
The Shreepurraj Community Development Center has been running an education campaign targeting the children from these communities. Under the campaign, the Center has been conducting free classes for the children of these communities.
The number of children from these communities going to school has increased following this.
Only 12 children from these communities at the three places used to go to school just two years back. But the number of children going to school has now reached more than 140 after the Center intervened through the ‘Program to Empower Harawa Charawa through Social Mobilization and Education.’
The program is run with the assistance from the Freedom Fund. The Center has been conducting public awareness campaign, parents meeting and free classes for children under this campaign, said Arjun Sada of the Harawacharawa Shambhunath Town Children’s Club.
Earlier the children of Harawacharawa and Musahar communities used to spend the day by playing rather than studying, but they have now been attracted towards study gradually after free child classes came into operation in the village.
Arjun said, “Number of children of Harawacharawa and Musahar families was very nominal at schools until few years ago. Now the number of students of Harawacharawa, Musahar communities is started increasing gradually.”
Children of Harawacharawa community did not show their interest to go to school in lack of their awareness of importance of education until few years ago. Even their guardians did not send their children to school.
Arahuliya Sada of Mohanpur shared, “Now children of Musahar communities have started going to school. Awareness has been created among guardians in this regard.”
Remembering that though he had wish to study more, he had to marry at an early age due to pressure from his parents, Sada added, ” Now the guardians of Harawacharawa and Musahar families have become responsible and have started sending their children for study.”
Programme Coordinator at Shreepurraj Community Centre, Sharada Chaudhary, said that the organisation run the free child education programme at Shambhunath municipality-2, 3 and 5 and more than 140 children of Harawacharawa and Musahar community are coming regularly for the study.
Of them, 105 have been enrolled to different schools and the organization has provided educational materials and school bags to such students.
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