Roji is feeling very embarrassed to go to school. She has bandages all over her: one on her neck, two on her arms, and two on her knees. She is worrying about what she will say if her friends ask her what happened. Even the teacher will ask her. If she tells the true story, her friends will laugh at her, and some might tease her. The teacher will definitely make some sort of joke or comment about it. Because her injuries haven’t fully healed yet, she decides it’s better not to go to school until she is completely recovered. She has also been taking medicine since yesterday evening.
This morning, instead of taking the medicine her mother gave her, she secretly threw it away in the corner of the backyard. When her mother asked if she had taken her medicine, she lied and said, “Yes, I took it.”
Just before it was time to leave for school, Roji hesitantly approached her father, who was busy repairing a bicycle. She said, “Father! I won’t go to school today. I will go only when my injuries heal properly.”
The father, who was still busy repairing his bicycle, replied:
“I don’t know about that. For a couple of days, I have to go take care of your grandmother (Nombou) who is sick. They have taken her to the hospital in Bongaigaon because of her illness. I will be staying there for a few days.”
Since things didn’t work out with her father, Rajia went to her mother and pleaded: “Mother! I won’t go to school until my wounds heal. How can I even walk? The pain in my hand is also very severe. I won’t even be able to write, Mother. Please don’t force me to go to school!”
Her mother stared intently at her face and asked back: “What did you say?”
Rajia repeated: “My hands and legs are still injured, Mother, so I won’t go to school today!”
Her mother, sensing an excuse, replied: “What will you do sitting at home then? Aren’t you just faking these injuries and making excuses because you are lazy to go to school?”
Roji tried to act as if she was in intense pain. “It hurts terribly, Mother. So please let me skip today. From tomorrow onwards, I will go every single day.”
Her mother completely shut her down: “There is no ‘from tomorrow’. Nothing is wrong with you. Get dressed quickly and go to school right now. If you don’t, you’re going to get a taste of the stick (get beaten) right now. You just don’t listen when you’re told nicely. You will definitely face the consequences of disobedience.”
Roji couldn’t throw a tantrum or argue any further. She got ready, and even though she was limping heavily, she began walking toward school. Her mother stood watching her walk down the road for a distance to see how she was behaving. Just as Rajia hurriedly glanced back…
…she kept looking back at her mother. Slowly, she kept walking toward the school.
Roji arrived at school quietly and crestfallen. Seeing her completely silent, pale, and weak face, her friends started asking her what had happened. However, despite her classmates questioning her, she didn’t give any answers. She was secretly thinking that she would only explain herself if the teacher directly questioned her.
The students ended up waiting for their teacher for about an hour. During this time, the other children were busy playing all sorts of games in the field—some were chasing each other, some were playing hopping games, the girls were playing with stones near the school porch, and a few others were playing Hakhor-Sikhor (a traditional pit game) in the corner. Nearby, a few boys were playing marbles with small stones.
Meanwhile, Roji just sat completely still inside the classroom. From time to time, she would peer out the window, watching her friends play and wishing she could join them. She quietly managed the pain and burning sensation in her injured hands and legs. She thought to herself, “It would have been so much better if nothing had happened to me.” Then she quickly thought, “But hey, at least I learned how to ride a bicycle! If I get to ride it just one more time, I’ll perfect it.”
After about an hour passed, a young man from the village came over to the school to inform the children:
“Hey kids, your teachers have a teachers’ union meeting today at Boro Bazar. School is cancelled for today! And tomorrow, they have sports and athletics training, so it will be closed then too.”
Hearing the news that the teacher wasn’t coming today made the children incredibly happy. When they found out that school would be closed tomorrow as well, they celebrated even more. And to top it all off, Sunday was right after that!
Overjoyed, the children stopped playing, grabbed their school bags and pouches, and came running out of the school toward their respective homes. A few children ran past, mimicking the loud roaring sounds of a motorcycle with their mouths, shouting, “Hey, school is closed today and closed tomorrow too!”
Roji was also incredibly happy inside because she wouldn’t have to return to school for three whole days (including Sunday). She walked back home alongside her friends. The boys ran way ahead. The road they used to commute to school was extremely dusty. The boys intentionally kicked up thick clouds of dust as they sprinted forward, their mischievous goal being to cover the girls in dust. The girls got very angry at the boys, but they had no choice but to walk through the dust to get back home.
Upon arriving home, Roji told her mother about the teacher not being able to come to school. She further explained that the school would remain closed for the next couple of days. Hearing the news that the school would be shut down for days, Rwisumwi (Roji’s mother) felt deeply saddened.
She thought to herself: “This is because there is only one single teacher for the entire school. If only there were two teachers, it would be so much better. If one teacher is unable to make it due to some personal reason or emergency, the other teacher could still come and manage. The school wouldn’t have to be shut down completely like this. The children would actually learn better, and the syllabus could be completed right on time. Now, with a three-day holiday, what are these children even going to do at home? They will just waste all their time playing in the dust, the mud, and wandering into the bushes.”
She continued to worry: “There absolutely must be at least two teachers in a school… If the lone teacher falls severely ill or gets caught up in a long-term emergency, who is going to teach these children?”
This bleak reality reminded Rwisumwi of something Gwmsrang, the village headman (Gaonburah), had mentioned one day. He had spoken about Sonthala, a teacher at the primary school in the neighboring village of Daikhorguri…
…Teacher Sonthala Basumatary once tripped over a rabbit and fell down, injuring himself so badly that he couldn’t go to school. Because he was unable to attend, he sent his completely uneducated, illiterate wife to substitute for him for a couple of days.
His wife went to teach, but being the wife of a primary school teacher, only heaven knows what she actually taught or how she managed! She completely mixed up the basics: she called vowels (Garang Hangkhw) consonants (Khourang Hangkhw), and consonants vowels. In math, she called addition (Dajabnai) multiplication (Sanjabnai), and referred to division (Rannai) as subtraction (Dankhonai).
When one of the students boldly spoke up and said, “Madam, what you are teaching is completely wrong,” she reportedly snapped back: “Listen kids, back in my day, I barely managed to clear Class 2, and I am definitely not a real teacher! Go ask your actual teacher all of this properly when he gets back. I don’t know anything anyway, and I’m not coming back to teach you guys from tomorrow onward!”