This school brings down crime rate

Anahita Mukherji TNN

Murshidabad (West Bengal): Tom Sawyer, the mischievous young protagonist of Mark Twain’s 19th century classic, is an unlikely hero for a social activist from rural West Bengal. But Shabnam Ramaswamy, a feisty 55-year-old from Murshidabad, likens herself to Tom Sawyer in more ways than one.

Like Sawyer, who, when given the onerous task of painting a wall, convinced his friends of the importance of his job and had them queuing up to help him, Ramaswamy has visitors from around the world knocking on her door in Katna—a remote crime-ridden village in Murshidabad district—eager to pitch in and help her run an extraordinary school she began five years ago. The Adventures of Shabnam Ramaswamy could give Sawyer a run for his money.

Jagriti Public School has changed the face of Katna village. The school, which provides rural kids with quality education in English, has helped bring down the crime rates in the area. “Most crimes are committed because of the grinding poverty and unemployment in the region,” says Ramaswamy, who has no qualms in employing former criminals, including those who have attacked her in the past. Take for instance her driver, a jolly, strapping man in his forties who ferries kids from the surrounding villages to school. His loyalty towards Ramaswamy is unquestionable. It is near impossible to tell that he was part of a group of contract killers who lobbed handmade bombs at Shabnam and her husband 11 years ago at the behest of her uncle, a man she sacked for swindling money meant for the school.

The very spot where the school now stands was once the scene of a crime. One night, eight years ago, when Shabnam and her husband, senior journalist Jugnu Ramaswamy, first moved to Katna, they were shaken by the sound of a piercing scream along the lonely road near their home. Armed with torches, they traced the sound to a peasant who had been robbed and tied to a tree. That’s when the duo decided they wanted to build their dream school beside that very tree. It’s little wonder that Ramaswamy’s NGO, Street Survivors, won the Sanskriti Award for social achievement this year.

The school building, an ornate brick structure with a rustic feel, was designed by a Delhi architect and built by local masons.

Jagriti Public School has changed lives in the remote Katna village in Murshidabad district