Reviving a school, awakening a village: Kalaguru’s quiet revolution

Bongaigaon, June 20: Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha had revived a primary school in a small village in Bongaigaon district while he was hiding here to evade police action for being a Marxist revolutionary.

The small village, named Sankarghola, is located around 30 km away from the Bongaigaon district headquarters and is inhabited by people of the Rabha community.

Rabha had arrived in the village from Kumarkata, a neighbouring village in the south, by crossing the Konora beel by boat prior to the year 1952. At that time, only 26 Rabha families were living in the village. However, the number of households has increased to 75 at present, said a retired schoolteacher of the area, Balaram Rabha (61).

Political activist Bishnu Rabha, who had identified himself as ‘Bistu Rabha’ here, had laid stress on social reform and sensitised the locals about their rights as per Marxist ideology, Balaram Rabha added.

Revolutionary Communist Party of India activist Rabha revived the no. 125 Sankarghola Primary School, which was set up in the village in 1929 but had remained non-functional due to poor awareness, the retired schoolteacher informed.

“Kalaguru also used the school as a community centre to interact with the villagers and he amused them with his cultural performances. We heard about all this from our parents,” said Arun Kumar Rabha (46), another resident of the village.

Now, the class-1 to class-5 school has a total of 29 students and two teachers. The old school structure has been renovated somewhat and two additional classrooms have been added.

The sleepy village still maintains a direct link with Bishnu Rabha as his grandson’s spouse, Dipika, daughter of Pandab Rabha, belongs to this village. As such, the natives of the village feel proud of this association and remember Kalaguru on ‘Rabha Divas’ every year.

By
Correspondent