Walk To School If You Can: Dhili Village Where Tiny Footprints On Slippery Embankments Tell Tale Of Daily Ordeal
Between snakes, water and mud, primary class children in Odisha's Balasore walk to school even when there is no road. But the administration remains silent.
Published : October 15, 2025 at 1:46 PM IST
|Updated : October 15, 2025 at 7:18 PM IST
By Jeevan Jyoti Nayak
Balasore: Every morning, amid the paddy fields of Dhili village, in Balasore district, children start making their way to the school barefoot, clutching their slates and tattered school bags without realising that the tiny footprints they leave behind on the narrow embankments remind everyone of the daily ordeal they bear. Guarding their steps, they negotiate the slippery ridges so that they can reach their destination - the Government Primary School in Dhili.
Situated like an island in the middle of the fields, the school is surrounded by shimmering green paddy and muddy canals. The first thing the 19 children enrolled in the school do after reaching the school is wash their feet clean to enter the classroom. But only to return through the same path before evening.
For these children from a tiny SC hamlet under Bauripada panchayat of Simulia block, the roadless path remains the only gateway to learning.
During the rainy season, the embankments disappear beneath water logged fields forcing mothers to carry their children and wade through the knee-deep slush.
“It is an everyday affair for us to drop them off and bring them back. And on rainy days, it becomes almost impossible for the children to reach the school,” says headmistress Nirmala Debnath, who too crosses the same muddy canal to reach the school.
She also informs that due to the absence of a road, the number of students is on the wane. “Parents did not want to take a daily risk so they stopped sending their children to school,” she adds.
Having classes from I to V, the school was established 15 years ago on land donated by a villager Nabakishore Malik. He had given away 11 decimals of his farmland with the hope that education can be brought closer to the community’s children. But after the building came up, no step was taken to make the access easy. Ultimately, the ridges on the farmlands turned into pathways of clay and water channels for the children to navigate daily. Students also make do with bamboo poles at places which form a bridge and make it easy for them to cross.
It is not only the approach road, even the school does not have the basic infrastructure - no electricity and a single classroom that becomes a furnace during summer. The children fan themselves with exercise books as they listen to the teacher and jot down notes. The ceiling drips with slightest rain and the children huddle together to avoid getting wet. Snakes and frogs are also common in the area. “Children often get scared when they see a snake or even a frog. But we cannot do anything about it. This is the only school for them,” adds Debnath.
Maheshwar Malik, a student of the fifth grade says, “We come to school through mud but we are now habituated to these circumstances. We brave snakes at times. It would be really good if we get a road and so that we can concentrate on studies.”
The irony is, every government scheme, from mid-day meals to free uniforms and textbooks, reaches the school but students struggle to reach the institution.
The villagers allege that despite petitioning leaders, ministers, and the administration multiple times, nothing happened. “The school was started in 2010 with Nabakishore’s donation. It was meant for children of the community who could not walk two kilometers to the nearest school. But till today, there is no road and we have seen no effort from the administration to set it right, ” says Dayanidhi Malik, a villager.
Even the promise of electricity remains unfulfilled. Poles are in place but no wires have been strung. The fans in the classroom do not function, he adds.
District Education Officer Basant Nayak said, “The department has been informed about the matter. The request for an approach road has been sent to the RD/PWD department. We will resolve the problem soon.”
Sadly, the assurance of 'soon' has remained words only. The condition of the school or the road has not changed in Dhili village. For now, the children gear up every day to walk on bamboo bridges and muddy paths, so that their classes do not get affected.
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