School for Food? A Musahar Story

The abysmal literacy rate of Musahar community does not entirely speak about its lowest position in the development index. The community has barely 9 per cent literacy rate, which is one of the lowest for any community in India. The community gets its name from the traditional occupation of catching rats for their livelihood and for food. ‘Moos’ means rat in the commonly spoken Bhojpuri dialect of Musahar community. Thus the meaning of Musahar is a community that traps rats and feeds on them. Though the community has discontinued its traditional occupation of catching rats, history still haunts and hurts the community badly. In the North Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Musahar community falls at the bottom of the caste pyramid structure.

95 per cent of the educated members of Musahar community are no older than 15 years. This implies that the school-going children almost entirely constitute the literates of the community. If we rush to conclude that Musahar community has suddenly become serious about educating its children, we will make a mistake. Paradoxically, the mid-day-meal that is given in the school, rather than the school education itself, has more attraction in Musahar dominated villages. And the food provision in school persuades parents to send their children to school.

I visited two Musahar villages in Poornia district of Bihar to know how the community approaches education as a social good. Mohan Rishi of Jhuiyan village says, “Our children get food from the school only infrequently. Even when they actually get, the food is not of good quality”. The response of Mohan Rishi is important because this was the first answer that he gave to a question on the benefits of school education. He, like all his community members, takes the surname of ‘Rishi’ which means sage.

The answers given by the school-going children to the same question on the importance of education were real eye-openers. Sita, 12 year-old girl attending Class V, said in one breath, “In school we get education and food”. Incidentally Sita attends tuition classes in her village at the monthly fee of Rs. 150. When asked why she attends tuition classes when she goes regularly to school, she complained about the poor quality of teaching and irregularity of classes. Perception of school as a food source does not augur well for school education. Though one of the stated purposes of mid-day meal programme is providing nutritional support to school going children, this was not the exclusive purpose of schooling as it is widely perceived.

Musahar parents inform that children, especially those in the secondary schools, do not generally stay in schools after the lunch break. In certain cases, class teachers call it a day immediately after lunch. Vijay a 14 year old Vth standard student says his class teacher ends classes anytime he wishes, at times even before lunch.

Musahar children spend a good amount of leisure time on the raised wooden planks which is a standard feature of all Musahar houses.

Though the schools have not made any significant contribution to providing quality education to Musahar students, it has indeed given some food support to school-going children. Can be it taken as an excusing relief or debate on education improvement measures, is an issue that needs to be resolved.

Saju MK,

Caritas India