Marathon run with school children

Marathon run to create awareness on education
By A City Correspondent GUWAHAT, May 13 – Not for all a run assumes significance, but for the tribal students of Parijat Academy located at Pamohi, Deepor Beel who have started realising the importance of education, a forthcoming run is turning out to be the most looked forward event of their academic calendar.The marathon run scheduled on May 18 and organised by Parijat Academy has also become important for the school authorities as the run is aimed at making the local tribal people aware about the value of education and the need to send their children to school.In this area dominated by tribal people who largely depend on agriculture, making liquor or on selling their labour for livelihood, sending their young children to school was a never considered idea till a young man, determined to make the tribal children literate started a school. Uttam Teron’s Parijat Academy now attends to 478 tribal students of the area.“Our mission has just started. We are yet to reach out to each child in the area,” said Teron adding that 25 per cent of the children in the area are still deprived of education.Though the people are gradually realising the need of educating their children, poor living conditions has been in the way of sending the children to school. “Parijat Academy provides free education to the tribal children, but the parents prefer to employ the children in chores that increase the family income,” said Teron.Teron said that the dream of making every tribal child literate was not an impossible task and that the academy was concentrating on garnering the support of the women folk in the matter.What has encouraged the school authorities to target the women folk is the fact that it has been the mothers and sisters of the students of the academy who have been religiously attending the parents- teachers meet held after every two months. “We have noticed that mothers are particularly keen to send the children to school,” said Teron.The excitement triggered by the coming event has been great with more than 100 students from class V to VIII getting ready to participate in the run. The participants will start from the Garchuk point and the race will end at the Deepor Beel point covering a distance of 6.5 km. The starting time of the run is 7 am.