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Before his school day begins, Jivan Mithari has to walk 2.5 km through dense forest, a journey he has made every day for the past 13 years. The 55-year-old teacher walks to a school where a single student waits for him.
His daily trek is not without risks, with rain, difficult terrain and wildlife along the route. But these challenges have not stopped him from showing up for his student.
Mithari teaches at the Zilla Parishad school in Kawaltek Dhangarwada, a remote hamlet in Gaganbawada taluka of Maharashtraโs Kolhapur district, near the Sindhudurg border. The school is located 2.5 km from the nearest motorable road, so Mithari walks the distance every day.
He joined the school on July 26, 2013, and has continued teaching there ever since.
Mithariโs decision to move to the remote school began almost as a challenge. Before his transfer, he served as chairman of the Kolhapur District Primary Teachersโ Cooperative Bank.
He recalled fellow teachers saying that influential people generally managed to get postings at well-connected schools, while others were left with difficult and far-flung assignments.
Mithari told PTI that he responded simply, saying, โI said I will go.โ He applied for a transfer and chose the remote school. Thirteen years later, he is still there.
The school was once much busier. Kawaltek Dhangarwada and neighbouring Anandur Dhangarwada were home to around 70 to 100 families. After 2000, however, families began moving towards Kolhapur city in search of work and better livelihoods.
As the hamlet emptied, the number of school-going children also fell.
This year, only one student is officially enrolled, Class 3 student Swara Bodake. Her younger sister, who is not yet old enough for formal schooling, also attends classes because the hamlet has no anganwadi. She is expected to enter Class 1 next year.
The falling enrolment has not changed Mithariโs sense of responsibility. He believes that having fewer students does not lessen his duty as a teacher and that he must continue doing his work.
The 5-km journey to school is not without risks. The route cuts through forest where gaurs, leopards and other wildlife are frequently seen. Mithari has encountered gaurs on his way, and villagers have taught him how to respond depending on whether an animal is alone or moving in a herd.
He says the journey also comes with an understanding that he is entering the animalsโ territory.
On one occasion, a leopard killed a young bullock near the settlement. Forest officials later installed a trap camera and captured hundreds of images of the animal. Mithari was advised not to stop or sit anywhere along the route while travelling to and from school.
The encounters can still frighten him. He admits that he is human and does feel scared, but after so many years, the journey has become a habit.
For the children of the hamlet, the alternative is hardly practical. The nearest school at Dhundawade is nearly 5.5 km away. For young children, that would mean travelling almost 11 km every day, a particularly difficult prospect during the monsoon.
The community largely depends on small-scale farming, firewood collection and forest produce such as jamun and karvand. Farmers use double fencing to protect their crops from frequent visits by gaurs.
In such a remote settlement, school remains an important link to education.
Mithari will retire in May 2029. After years of making the forest trek, he says the daily walk has also become a form of exercise. But he believes the school needs a compound wall to improve the safety and security of the children.
For now, his routine remains unchanged: a 5-km walk through the forest, a classroom at the end of it, and one student waiting to learn.
(With inputs from PTI)
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