more-in “What is your village name? Tell me children... it is Boddagandi.” As one enters the front yard of the hut that makes for a primary school in this tribal village located about 180 km from the district headquarters, one can see L. Veeramma teaching 13 children in the local accent. A native of Kutravada hamlet of Maredumilli mandal, Ms. Veeramma had secured a job as a government primary teacher after finishing her Intermediate and teacher training course three years ago. “I am a daughter-in-law of Boddagandi and I know the parents of these children very well. All of them live in the vicinity,” says the single teacher of classes I to III in one of the 361 primary schools located in the Agency. The number of schools may be high for those who are unaware of the fact that there are 855 hamlets in the district in which habitations are there in only 635 hamlets. The distance between any two hamlets is anything between 15 km and 20 km and involves trekking the hillocks and crossing the streams and rivulets. To top it all, there are no electricity and communication systems. “After passing out Class III here, we enrol the children in the nearby ashram school that is run by the Tribal Welfare Department,” says Ms. Veeramma and admits that not many children and parents evince interest in going to the residential school that is located 20 km from the hamlet. Though there are 106 ashram schools for the tribal children, admissions from the remote hamlets are not very encouraging. “Even if there are a few admissions, parents take away their children on the pretext of some festival or fever, and do not send them back. It is very difficult for the teachers to visit the hamlets to interact with the parents,” observes Balu Reddy, an English teacher from the ashram school at Addateegala, where the strength is 400 in Classes III to X. Road network “If the road network improves, more children from the remote hamlets can pursue higher education and overcome superstitions,” says Mr. Reddy, a native of the Agency. Lack of proper roads is said to be the reason for a good number of posts lying vacant in the Agency area. Of the 17 village secretary posts in Y. Ramavaram mandal, 15 posts are vacant as no one is ready to join. “The school is two hillocks away from here. Our children won’t go to the school,” says Kondla Yerukamma of Chaparayi while tightly holding her three-year-old niece.

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