The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) — CPM’s youth wing — plans to transform its coaching centre for school students on Bhutni, an islet vulnerable to riverbank erosion and flooding, into a full-fledged school with the best possible facilities.
Dhrubajyoti Saha, the DYFI’s state secretary, visited Subodh Choudhury Pathshala, the coaching centre, at Hiranandapur in Bhutni on Wednesday, nearly a year after its establishment.
He distributed Durga Puja gifts to the students and their families.
The People’s Relief Committee also organised a health camp to assess the physical and mental health of the centre’s 160 students in the aftermath of the floods.
The students receive regular tuition for reading, writing and arithmetic at the centre.
“Severe riverbank erosion and recurrent flooding have taken a toll on education across the islet. Despite our limited financial resources, we started this ‘Pathshala’ last year to help underprivileged students who are among the worst affected by these calamities. We aspire to gradually transform the coaching centre into a full-fledged school, particularly as student enrolment and attendance have been rising steadily,” Saha said.
Debajyoti Sinha, a Manikchak resident and the Malda district secretary of Citu, oversees the daily functioning of the coaching centre throughout the year.
“We had initially planned to run the coaching centre for just one year. However, the prevailing situation has prompted us to think on a broader scale,” Sinha said.
The Pathshala began with 50 students, but its enrolment has reached 160 in
just a year.
“The increase reflects the demand among children from erosion-and flood-affected families for regular and structured education. Two schools have already been swallowed by the Ganga. But education cannot come to a halt. We are, therefore, in discussions with the DYFI’s state leadership to explore the possibility of converting the coaching centre into a school,” Sinha said.
The centre is named after the late Subodh Choudhury, a former English teacher at Mathurapur High School and a former minister of state in the erstwhile Left Front government.
Choudhury was elected MLA from Manikchak three times and was also known for his research on Malda’s folk culture.
Ajay Ganguly, the BJP president of the Malda South organisational district, dismissed the DYFI’s proposal as “too ambitious” and alleged that it was driven by political motives.
“The state government has left no stone unturned to restore the education system in Bhutni, as directed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari. Even during the calamity, the administration ensured that education continued through both offline and online modes. The CPM youth wing’s plan to establish a party-run school is merely an attempt to gain political mileage and is unlikely to materialise,” Ganguly said.