India-Bangladesh Border's Gate No 50: A problem area for India's last mile school

Across the India-Bangladesh international border fencing, right across Gate No 50, lies the last school of India. 

Bhogdanga Faushkarkuti Simanta Lower Primary School, which is surrounded by Bangladesh's villages from East, West and South, serve as a bottleneck, and a decade-long headache for the residents.

A total of 19 children from Faushkarkuti and Bhogdanga study in the LP School which is run by 3 teachers along with 2 Cooks in a single room.

Most of the students in the village fail to continue further higher education due to its biggest dilemma of communication and transportation gap. Students here have to walk 3 to 4 km to cross the border before they can reach to their school.

The dilemma doesn’t end here. Even after crossing the border, in another 3 to 4 km there is a school for higher education, but very few students take the initiative to study there owing to the distance. 

Not only distance but during the rainy season a major part of the road is underwater, which dries only once the sun comes out.

The trouble doubles when students attempting to cross the border have to pass through the fence to cross-check with the jawans of the Border Security Force patrolling along the border. If the students fail to reach back on time, the border gate is then closed until the next day. 

Bhogdanga and Faushkarkuti village is covered by 684 bighas, crossing the international border fencing is a bottleneck part of India holding a population of 642. 

After 75 years of India’s Independence, the villagers of Bhogdanga and Faushkarkuti continue to fight for their land rights and dignity. And above all, the students wait for a final solution to the long-standing issue of communication and transportation trouble across Gate No 50, which acts as a hurdle for them to pursue further education.