Guwahati:
Education for all is a constitutional promise, but the means to that end may often be terribly difficult. In Guwahati, a state capital no less, some children have to wade through dirty water from drains to enter their classrooms.
The approach to the Rajendra Narayan Deb ME school, a government school in Guwahati, is a road filled with muck, with puddles all through the year. But this is hardly an obstacle for students and teachers who hop, skip and jump to reach a school which has further surprises in store.
It is almost unreal. The principal, teachers and students attend classes with their feet dipped in dirty water every day of their lives irrespective of whether it rains or not.
Mohamd Rafat Ali, Principal, Rajendra Narayan Deb ME school says: In a school where the majority of the teachers are women, it is difficult for them to cross two feet of water every day in their sarees. Earlier there were 400 children, but now it's gone down to 150."
The school, established in 1974, literally runs under water, right in the middle of Guwahati city. And the water is only increasing every day with no proper drainage system.
"I come every day like all children come. When we are sitting in class, we get bitten by insects, leeches - a lot of children have gotten ill. We have even caught fish here," says a student of the school.
Shikha Devi, a teacher, recounts more woes: "We can't use toilets , there is no drinking water, also no electricity."
Here, in the heart of Assam, the basic rights of dignity and health are violated.