Tribal children in Wayanad from far-flung hamlets and forest settlements find it hard to reach school these days. The Vidyavahini project, aimed at ensuring transport of tribal children to schools, has been stalled after the tribal department defaulted on payment of rent to owners of taxis that operated in the previous academic year.
As per details collected from the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) office, the payment for March is pending in 40 schools, and the payment for February is pending for two schools in Vythiri taluk. Under the Mananthavadi Tribal Development Office, service providers of 87 schools are yet to pay arrears for February and March, whereas taxi payment is pending for 74 schools under the Sulthan Bathery Tribal Development Office in the same period.
The project was initially launched in the 2013-2014 academic year by the Department of Tribal Welfare. In 2021-2022, the onus of running the project was shifted to the three-tier local administrative bodies, and it catered only to rural schools. Two years ago, the education department took over the project, with the tribal department shouldering the funding for the project, rechristening it as ‘Vidyavahini’.
The head teachers of many schools are struggling to get vehicles for the tribal children, as the majority of drivers refuse to cooperate with the project. Kerala Private School Teachers’ Association, the pro-UDF teachers’ body, demanded that the state government ensure the timely payment of rent for hired school vehicles. KPSTA district president Shaju John said that only if the payment is regular will the vehicles be available. “Now the onus of arranging vehicles is on the head teachers, who are caught between irate parents and reluctant drivers,” he said.
It is also cited that the government should facilitate the travel of tribal children to the nearby government school, even if there is an aided school close by, which is not happening now. The tribal department allocates funds only to the nearby school, whether it is an aided school or a government school. “There are instances where tribal children keep away from school as the Vidyavahini vehicle operates only to the nearby aided school, where they find it tough to adapt,” Shaju John said.
K P Jafer, a former teacher of a government school in charge of the Vidyavahini project, said that the vehicle owners may be ready to wait for one or two months, but nobody could wait for four or five months. “They have to bear the expenses of diesel, maintenance and instalments to the bank, as many of the vehicles were purchased on loan. Unlike in the past, now the tribal students are not ready to come to schools if the Vidyavahini service does not reach their hamlets,” he said.
A vehicle driver said that apart from the financial loss due to the payment delay, they would also incur an additional loss as they would miss many other profitable trips, as they are engaged both in the morning and in the evening. “Moreover, the rent we get is meagre,” he said.
However, the officials of the Tribal Welfare Department, responsible for funding the Vidyavahini project, said that the entire arrears would be disbursed within a few weeks.