I am grateful to my friend Lucy Keen – a teacher at Aston St. Mary’s School in Hertfordshire – who drafted this piece for a local Parish magazine. The two schools are closely linked and Lucy has spent time in India teaching at St Mary’s Singla

In June 2017, a 104 day long general strike began in the area of West Bengal where Darjeeling and St Mary’s school, Singla are located. There has been a long history of strikes in this area. The purpose of this strike was a demand for an independent state of Gorkhaland to be formed, separate from Bengal. It was sparked by fears of the Bengali language being imposed in schools in the areas where a majority of the people are Nepali-speaking Gorkhas. Nepali is the official language in the hills of Bengal and indeed of the children at St Mary’s, Singla although all lessons are delivered in English.

As the weeks went by, the situation grew worse as the region became paralysed by the strike. All businesses and shops were closed including the tea gardens which turned into unmanageable forests. Public transport was disrupted, all schools were closed, food was in scarce supply and violence was everywhere. In what sounds like a terrifying time, the police conducted house raids and the constant violence and protesting left people scared to leave their houses. In an infringement of residents’ human rights, all internet and media connections were stopped in the area. This made communication with the school hard but we were still able to maintain a sporadic amount of contact. 

Thankfully after 104 days, the strike is now over. Normality has begun to return to life in the hills but there has been much damage to the communities and economy. St Mary’s has reopened and most of the children have returned. Unfortunately, some older children were left with no choice but to seek employment during the strike, in larger towns and cities as far away as Delhi. Therefore, some children have been unable to return to complete their education. The school now faces the difficult challenge of preparing children for their examinations, despite having missed 104 days of schooling!

In the mean time, Singla continues to be in our thoughts and prayers. We pray for the remarkable teachers; I continue to be in awe of the work they do in the most challenging of circumstances. We pray that the children can catch up in their studies and that they may continue happily with their rights to a prosperous education without any further disruptions.