Defying Odds And Distances: Sapera Ka Bas Girls Fight For Education

Alwar (Rajasthan): The government is running several schemes to promote girls' education and is encouraging higher education by providing bicycles and scooters, but there is a village where girls are barely able to complete even their 10th-grade education.

Sapera ka Bas village is located a short distance from the Alwar district headquarters. Here, girls are unable to study beyond the 5th grade. Sapera ka Bas, with a population of about 400 people, only has a primary school, so girls can only study up to the 5th grade. Due to the poor condition of the roads, girls are unable to travel to nearby villages and towns for further education.

This is why, despite a continuous increase in the literacy rate, only a few girls in Sapera ka Bas have been able to complete their 10th-grade education.

Sangeeta belongs to the Sapera community – one that earns a living by performing snake charming. But she has come to realise that it is no longer possible to continue with this profession as the government enacted a law, by which catching and displaying snakes is prohibited.

A resident of Sapera ka Bas – a village where Sapera community people live – she and others are faced with serious livelihood problems, and most of them are unemployed. People do odd jobs to support their families.

Unfortunately, Sapera ka Bas village has only one school up to the 5th grade, which Sangeeta attended. After that, she had to travel two and a half to three kilometres to continue her studies. The road from the village to the school was in poor condition and deserted, making it frightening to travel alone.

Sangeeta's students in the village. (ETV Bharat)

Sangeeta had a dream to become a doctor, and she insisted on continuing her studies despite the challenge,s which her parents eventually agreed to. She walked two and a half kilometres every day to pass the eighth grade. For 10th grade, there was a secondary school in Burja village. Due to the distance from the village, her family initially refused to let her continue her studies, but she persisted and did not give up. To achieve this, she convinced four or five children from the village and their families to send them away for further education. They agreed, and five children from the village went away to study. She was the only girl among these five children.

Sangeeta eventually became the first girl from Sapera ka Bas village to pass the 10th grade. Sangeeta passed her 10th grade in 2021 and now teaches children in her village at home. Initially, only five or six children came to her for studies, but after her efforts, in two years, 30 children are now coming to her. Sangeeta said that she still wants to pursue further studies. But due to the lack of proper roads from the village, studying outside is a challenge.

Khushi, a resident of Sapera ka Bas, said that she passed the 5th grade from the village school. Later, she came to Alwar for further studies and lived in a rented room. She studied at SMD School in Alwar and passed the 10th grade in 2025, but due to her family's poor financial condition, she could not continue her studies. Her dream is to pursue further education and join the police force so that she can help people get justice.

Local MLA and Leader of the Opposition Tikaram Juli said that a proposal for road construction has been sent from his side to resolve the road problem in Sapera ka Bas village. This time, the road will be constructed in this village in the budget, which will reduce the difficulties of the local people and enable children to go to nearby villages and cities for their studies.

Sunil Nath Sapera, a resident of Sapera ka Bas, said that the children in his village are eager to learn, but they are unable to study due to a lack of proper roads and other problems. There is a primary school in the village, but there are no facilities for further education. There are no proper roads to and from the village, so children cannot go to other places to study. In addition, people in the village live in poverty. Due to poverty, people live in mud houses and do not even have toilet facilities.

Mamta Meena, a teacher at the Government Primary School in Sapera ka Bas, said that the village currently has facilities for education up to the 5th grade, and about 34 students are studying at the school. After the 5th grade, they encourage the children of the village to pursue further education. They have also spoken to the children's families to explain the importance of education. There is a problem with roads in the village, so they have encouraged 5-6 children from the village to study together in a group outside the village. Children have to travel three to four kilometres to pursue further education. The children at their school receive nutritious meals and benefit from other government schemes.