A Forest Walk Every Day: Kolhapur Teacher's 5-Km Trek for a Single Student
Jivan Mithari walks nearly 5 km through dense forest daily to teach one Class 3 student at a remote Zilla Parishad school in Kolhapur's Gaganbawada taluka.
While most teachers in Maharashtra reach their schools by vehicle or public transport, Jivan Mithari sets out on foot. The 55-year-old walks close to five kilometres through dense forest every day to reach the Zilla Parishad school in Kawaltek Dhangarwada, a remote hamlet in Gaganbawada taluka of Kolhapur district, near the Sindhudurg border.
The school lies about 2.5 kilometres from the nearest road, and no vehicle can reach it. The village itself has no electricity. Heavy rain, the absence of a proper path and the presence of wild animals make the daily commute a demanding one, yet Mithari has kept to it for 13 years.
He joined the school on July 26, 2013, and has served there since. The posting was not assigned to him by chance. Before taking it up, Mithari had been chairman of the Kolhapur District Primary Teachers' Cooperative Bank. When colleagues remarked that those in influential positions usually secured comfortable postings while others were sent to difficult locations, he chose the remote school himself.
The school once had a healthy enrolment, but families have steadily moved to Kolhapur city in search of better livelihoods, and the number of children fell with the population. Today only one student, Class 3 pupil Swara Bodake, is officially enrolled. Her younger sister also attends classes because the village has no anganwadi centre.
For Mithari, the size of the class is beside the point. "Even if there is only one child, I have to continue my work," he said.
The forest route brings him into contact with gaurs and, occasionally, leopards. He has encountered gaurs on the way, and villagers have taught him how to respond in such situations. A leopard was also sighted near the village after it attacked livestock. Mithari admits he feels frightened at times, but the journey has become part of his routine.
He describes teaching not merely as a profession but as a responsibility — one that keeps education within reach for children in the region's most remote corners.