Banke, Feb. 26: Pardeshu Tharu of Fattenagar is extremely proud of his newly acquired skill of reading and writing. Now, his next dream is to learn simple calculation. He fought a difficult battle to get this opportunity to attend an informal education class. However, the shy boy fears that his dream for further study may never turn to be a reality.

He was born to a Kamaiya family, an agriculture bonded labourer, and has been serving the Kisan family, an employer of Kamaiya, along with his parents.

“A Kamaiya is not allowed to make a choice,” he says in his mother tongue, the Tharu language. He said he craved to continue his study after the current informal education class comes to an end in another four months, but out of fear that he may  be denied he has not yet dared to ask for a permission from his employer.

Kamaiya children are fighting an uphill battle against poverty as well as resistance from their employers to join and continue their study in the informal classes specially designed for them by NGOs and trade unions. According to a study conducted by Shiva Sharma in 1998, there are about 5,000 children working under the Kamaiya system in five districts of Kanchanpur, Kailali, Bardiya, Banke and Dang of mid and far western  Terai. Banke has the highest number of children working under Kamaiya system.

Researches have found that Kamaiya system evolved soon after the in-migration of people to naya muluk, the Banke, Bardiya, Kailai and Kanchanpur, from hills some five decades back. “The Kamaiya problem is basically an ethnic problem generic to the Tharu community of mid and far western Terai,” reads the 1998 study done by Shiva Sharma. Tharus, the single largest tribal ethnic minority in Nepal, are indigenous to plains in the southern Nepal and are considered to be the oldest surviving settlers in the area. Department of Housing and Physical Planning in 1995, calculated the number of Kamaiyas to stand at 25,763 persons and 17,435 households in the four districts of naya muluk and Dang.

Shiva Sharma points out that eradication of malaria in the early 1960s that brought flow of migration from hills and provision of state awarding land grants to civil servants and military personnel as reward for their outstanding service that resulted in eviction of the original inhabitants and lack of legal property rights of Tharus over their land are some of the major reasons for Tharus to loose their rights over agricultural land. “‘The supply of labour was limited…evicted from their traditional rights over land, Tharus gradually accepted work with masters and the masters had every intention of ensuring labour supply on a continual basis,” Sharma explains about the evolvement and continuation of the system.

Raju Pariyar, an orphan from Naya Basti, Kalika Village Development Committee also has joined informal education arrangements in his village, however he is unable to attend classes regularly. “On the days I fail to comply with my master’s demand I will not be fed,” says the cattle herder. However, he is determined to leave his Kisan’s household if the employer denies permission to continue his study. “Phupu will feed me, I will go to school,” he sounds confident of support from his aunt.

However keeping Kamaiya children to three-hour informal classes has proved to be a tough task, according to Raju’s teacher Shiva Kumari Adhikari. Out of the 27 students who initially joined the class, only 18 are attending it regularly. All the 18 children are working at different Kisan’s places.

Madhav Chaudhary  had to put extra effort to remain with the class—his master, though initially agreed to allow him to attend the class regularly took him to another district for work where he was confined inside home. But, the boy escaped the confinement and reached home to rejoin the informal schooling after an absence of one month.

The depth of poverty prevalent among Tharus is the biggest challenge against breaking the vicious Kamaiya system. According to a Nepal Living Standard Survey 1995/96, the incidence of poverty among Tharus are at 48 per cent as against national average of 45 per cent. And, illiteracy is the force that is preventing Tharus from obtaining alternative income sources to alleviate poverty among them. The literacy rate among Tharus is only 27 per cent as against approximately 38 per cent among non-Tharu communities in the naya muluk districts.

Kalu Kumar Tharu of Pedari VDC discontinued his Kamaiya-ship since last Maghi, the annual festival to renew Kamaiya’s contract with Kisans, to study. The boy offered to look after his two siblings and complete household works and in exchange his mother allows to continue his study.