With around 10,000 books and a Rs 40 lakh investment, a young woman is bringing children from Assam’s tea gardens closer to education, reports Prasanta Mazumdar

For generations, education has taken a back seat to the struggle for survival in many tea garden families in Assam. 

In a remote corner of the state, Anindita Gogoi is trying to change that. Her library movement is drawing children who have never attended school, as well as those who dropped out, back towards education.

Gogoi’s journey began in 2020, when she was pursuing a second master’s degree in social work after completing her post-graduation in history. 

During visits to Kanubari Tea Estate and neighbouring tea gardens in upper Assam’s Charaideo district, bordering Nagaland, she was studying common diseases affecting tea workers and their families. What she saw among the children left a lasting impression on her.

Most families did not send their children to school, while many of those who did saw them drop out, usually at the primary level. She found only four students preparing for the Class X board examination.

Concerned by the situation, Gogoi began looking for ways to encourage children to learn. She eventually settled on the idea of a street library and started one with 100 books in her residential complex at Bhogbari village

It soon became a welcoming space where children who had never attended school could play, explore and learn.

The library initially had books for both children and adults. As the initiative grew, Gogoi realised that children needed a space of their own. 

So, she set up the Totto-chan Children’s Library, followed by the Totto-chan Community Library. All three now operate from her house under the aegis of the Totto-chan Community Library, a registered NGO.

Together, the libraries have around 10,000 books, all bought by Gogoi with her own money.

The NGO also introduces children to subjects such as history and geography through art, craft, plays and other creative activities. 

These include terracotta work, Mukha, Assam’s traditional handmade mask art, Mandala designs, Warli folk art and Lippan art, which uses mud and mirrors.

The library uses puzzles and games to teach children geography and history. It also screens films featuring popular personalities, such as British actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson, known for playing Mr Bean. 

When teaching children about British rule in India, the team tells them that Mr Bean is from England, the country from which the British came to India. This helps children connect what they watch with what they learn.

Students and teachers from higher and technical institutions also visit to take classes.

“We need ways to inspire children to learn, so we work with art and craft. Children from seven villages come to our library,” Gogoi says.

The initiative has also reached beyond the library. Gogoi and her team established an Education Volunteer (EV) centre at Lamichuk under the state education department’s Sarba Shiksha Abhiyan. 

At these centres, trained volunteers help children who have never enrolled in school or have dropped out. Children attending the Lamichuk centre are enrolled in a nearby government primary school.

Sometime ago, Dr Om Prakash, Mission Director of Samagra Shiksha, Assam, visited Bhogbari and spent two days interacting with tea workers to understand why their children stayed away from school or dropped out.

Gogoi’s NGO has also taken book fairs to rural areas, organising one at Kanugaon Tea Estate, the first tea estate in the region to host such an event.

Her entire house has virtually become a library. Between 90 and 100 children from different communities, including the Tea Tribes, visit it every day. She has invested more than Rs 40 lakh in the project, with her family bearing the entire cost.

Of this, Rs 14 lakh came from her mother’s retirement benefits as a schoolteacher, which she donated to the initiative. The money helped fund the construction of a separate library building.

Gogoi’s father, also a retired schoolteacher, has supported the project alongside her mother. “My parents and I have continued investing. They are giving me their full support,” she says.

The NGO has helped a deaf and mute child enrol in school. It also assists children who have lost their parents in accessing monthly scholarships under a government scheme by helping them obtain the necessary documents from the authorities.

There are signs of change, Gogoi says. More children are attending Anganwadi centres, and some are enrolling in Class 1. 

The team engages with parents and organises interactive sessions during book fairs to encourage them to take a greater interest in their children’s education. The number of children visiting the library has continued to rise.

The collection also has copies of all Assamese magazines published since 1947, making it a valuable repository of the state’s periodical literature.

Gogoi, however, knows that the challenge is far from over. She estimates that it will take another 10 years to get every child from a tea worker’s family into school. The economic condition of tea workers, she says, remains central to the problem. 

“When families are required to struggle for livelihood, they will not have much concern about education. Tea workers work hard all day long and they can hardly monitor their children. But the children have to be educated. If they are not, how will they know about their rights?” she says.

For Gogoi, the library is a way to help them understand a world beyond the tea gardens through education.

Journey for education began at tea gardens

Gogoi’s journey began in 2020, when she was pursuing a second master’s degree in social work after completing her post-graduation in history. 

During visits to Kanubari Tea Estate and neighbouring tea gardens in upper Assam’s Charaideo district, bordering Nagaland, she was studying common diseases affecting tea workers and their families. What she saw among the children left a lasting impression on her. 

Most families did not send their children to school, while many of those who did saw them drop out, usually at the primary level. She found only four students preparing for the Class X board examination. 

Concerned by the situation, Gogoi began looking for ways to encourage children to learn.