Sujata Kharia

Sujata Kharia is the core member of Prayatn: Striving for Social Justice. She has completed her M.A. in Eduaction from TISS, Hyderabad and is deeply concerned on the adverse situation of Adivasi and tea workers communities in Dooars. She views education as a way of knowing oneself, collectively engaging with the wisdom of our ancestors and means of striving for social justice. Sujata is one of the founding pillar of Akhra for Education, an initiative of Prayatn to organise community library and study centre. She along with her friends organise Akhra for Education in Batabari tea garden where they has been working on resurgence of Adivasi values and strengthening formal  education. She also has been working on tea workers’ rights with Jalpaiguri Seva Sadan, an Jalpaiguri based NGO. 

About Prayatn

Prayatn is a collective of Adivasi youth in Dooars, West Bengal striving for social justice through means     of education. Along with tea, tourism, and timber, Dooars region is known for its abysmally low wages, poor education, and poverty. In terms of population, majority in the tea plantation in Dooars are Adivasis, and in terms of political power Adivasis are on the margins. In Prayatn, we use Adivasi (Indigenous) wisdom of Dhumkuria and Akhra for Education to engage with local developmental issues. We view education as a way of resurgence, and a means to build our agency and nurture collective resistance against twin-colonial forces.

Dhumkuria is the space where we collectively prepare for University education and engage with local development. We have two dhumkuria – Matelli and Patibari Dhumkuria, the two are 35 km away. We organize support classes and Paulo Freire’s works on pedagogy guides us. 'Akhra for Education', an initiative to organize community libraries and study centres for children. The school in the tea plantation region does not have the required teacher-student ratio, lacks basic infrastructural support, and Adivasi students experience ethnic biases in school. Further, during covid-19 pandemic, schools were shut down for extended period. This has adversely affected the development of children and hindered their right to education. Realizing the need, we started community library and study centers in the tea gardens.