MILAAP raised hands to Matin bhosale

Matin Bhosle was born in a nomadic tribe called the ‘Phanse Pardhis’. The Phase Pardhis, along with various other tribes, was branded as ‘criminal’ by the colonial British government’s Criminal Tribes Act because they mutinied against the British empire in the Indian rebellion of 1857. In 1952, the Indian government repealed the Act, and the tribes were ‘denotified’. However, the general society looks at the Phasne Pardhis still as criminals.

When I was a child, I did not know what chapatti or rice was. We would just hunt and eat animals or raw fruits and honey that we could get from the jungle. We did not know how to dress up or live a civilized life. Once, my uncle got some jowar for us to taste. I don’t know where he got it from, but I remember the police dragging them to the police station. They were kept in the jail for 3 months for getting a handful of jowar,” says Matin. In 1991, when Matin was around eight years old, he recalls, “We used to beg or hunt pheasants and rabbits. Or me and my three elder sisters used to eat stale food thrown away by the villagers. Once we had eaten [almost] nothing for 5-6 days. Fortunately, Matin’s father got a job as a farm laborer at a noble man’s farm, who pushed for Matin’s education. Matin eventually finished his graduation and also got a job as a teacher in the Zilla Parishad primary school of Mangrul Chavhada village in Amravati district of Maharashtra.


While Matin now had the respect of the villagers, he was frustrated that the general perspective for his community had not changed. “The Phanse Pardhis don’t have a permanent home and no [secure] source of income. They keep travelling. They beg, hunt or do bit of labour if they get any work,” Matin says. His father used to hunt, his mother would go begging. “Often, the children beg with their parents at railway stations and bus stops. They remain deprived of an education and decent jobs. Education and stability are important for their development. But Pardhi children are still not really accepted in ZP schools. Where is the right to education for them? And the Maharashtra government has not provided enough residential schools [for Adivasi children]. How will they progress then?


Matin started his mission to uplift the Phase Pardhi community. His first step was to do a survey in which he found out the number of people left in this community, he asked them their main issues and difficulties. He made a list of the people who had migrated from their villages and were either begging or living a miserable lives at railway stations or traffic signals. “They were living just 3 kms away from the cities and still didn’t have electricity, water, roads, houses or any employment opportunity. They did not have any identity proof; they did not have any papers for the land they owned. Many were killed in fake encounters as they were not even in the voters list,” he says. There were many Phase Pardhis whose children were orphaned and had migrated to different cities to work or to beg. In 2011, Matin started gathering these children from cities like Nagpur, Ranchi, Chennai, Baitul, etc.


There were still many questions for these Phase Pardhi children. How would they get the regular supply for their school? How would they get teachers for this school? How would they get rid of the tag given by society? So the school was aptly named, ‘Prashnchinh Adivasi Shala’ (Question Mark Adivasi School).


Matin Bhosale built the school just for Phanse Pardhi children at Mangrul Chawala, Amravati District, Maharashtra. He started in 2012 with 85 children after selling his family’s six goats and using his savings as a teacher. The school then was a thatched hut on the three-acre land given by his uncle Shankuli Bhosale, now 78. Matin says his uncle bought the land for Rs. 200 in 1970 after saving for years. He used to hunt monitor lizards, pheasants, rabbits and wild pigs and sell them in the markets of Amravati city. Matin’s wife Seema helps run the school, and their three kids study at the same school along with children from Phanse Pardhi settlements in Amravati, Beed, Dhule, Washim and Yavatmal districts. The education offered here is free of all costs for the kids and their families. Of the school’s eight teachers, four are from the Phanse Pardhi community.


The donations come in the form of notebooks from a few private schools, as well as books (for the library), rations and money from individuals and organisations in the state that help cover expenses, including the salary of the eight teachers (Rs 3,000 a month) and 15 helpers (Rs. 2,000 a month).
Despite the challenges, around 50 children have completed Class 10 at the Question Mark school and are studying further in the towns and cities of Maharashtra. The school’s girls’ kabaddi team has won taluka and state-level competitions in 2017 and 2018.

Today, few of these questions have been answered, but many remain. The school has a strength of 471 students now. Matin is still striving hard to get more help from society.
Details for direct bank transfer / UPI

UPI: givetomlpmatin@yesbankltd (Click to pay)
Or
Virtual account name: Matin - Milaap
Account number: 80808110126199
IFSC code: YESB0CMSNOC
Click here to read the instructions before you make a bank transfer.
The story was reported by People's Archive of Rural India
The story was reported by People's Archive of Rural India
Details for direct bank transfer / UPI

UPI: givetomlpmatin@yesbankltd (Click to pay)
Or
Virtual account name: Matin - Milaap
Account number: 80808110126199
IFSC code: YESB0CMSNOC
Click here to read the instructions before you make a bank transfer.
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