Opinion | Roads That Changed Lives: Connecting Villages to Classrooms

The process of development is often associated with large urban areas. However, the real development process starts in small villages where common people strive for better opportunities. One of the easiest ways to promote rural development is building roads. Roads appear to be just structures made of stone and asphalt, but they have the potential to transform the life of many people. The roads connect villages with educational institutions, hospitals, and markets. Students can benefit greatly from proper road building since they make learning available for them.

Often, before road building, children had to walk a long way to get to their educational institution. In addition, the path leading to the school was narrow and sometimes covered with mud. If the weather conditions were unfavorable, the roads would become even more complicated for traveling. In addition, floods could occur in some rural areas, making traveling very dangerous. Due to the mentioned circumstances, students were missing classes frequently.

The problems were even higher for girls. Parents often feared sending their girls to distant places because of safety concerns or the distance of the path leading to school. Due to this, many girls would drop out of school despite their desire to learn more. As soon as the road infrastructure is developed, there is a dramatic shift. Those remote villages which were once cut off from civilization start getting linked to the cities and schools around. Transport facilities like buses and vans start making stops at those villages. Schooling becomes easier and safer for the students.

One such illustration can be found in the form of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana which is a scheme implemented by the government to improve roads in rural India. In this particular scheme, the goal is to ensure that villages have access to proper roads that allow them to travel easily. With the provision of proper roads to any village, several new prospects open up for the villagers, especially students.

Such a shift can also be well understood in the case of Baramulla. In the past, villages located within the Baramulla district lacked good access via roads. Students in these villages had to cover a lot of distance in order to reach schools either by crossing farms or traveling through rocky paths. Winter and rainy seasons only made their travels even tougher. A number of students coming from remote villages used to have to move towards towns such as Sopore and Baramulla town for further education. Due to lack of transport facilities, it became difficult for these students to attend their schools punctually. Most students remained absent in their classrooms, and some of them even had to drop out of the educational institutes.

With the improvement of rural roads through Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak yojana, things slowly began to improve. Villages like wagoora and Kreeri were provided with good road connectivity with the nearby town. Vehicles started moving frequently along these roads, which made it easy for these students to attend their school daily. For instance, a student who resided in a remote village had to cover over one hour walking distance in order to reach the nearest main road from where he could catch his vehicle. Today, with the development of roads, vehicles can easily reach their village, thus reducing their daily walking distances.

Education for girls has also been positively affected due to the improved road conditions. There has been an increase in the number of parents who are confident enough to send their female children to school through these improved road conditions. More and more girls are enrolling for further education in secondary schools. Teachers have also benefitted from the improved road networks. Previously, teachers experienced difficulty accessing remote rural areas. These were far-off and inconvenient for them to access. Through these improved road conditions, they can travel conveniently to teach students at these distant places.

Roads have also helped to supply schools with books and other educational materials. It was difficult previously to send these items to schools located in distant locations. However, now delivery trucks can easily deliver these resources to schools. In addition, roads help enhance the economic situation of families in remote areas. With roads that link their villages to commercial centers, villagers can easily sell their agricultural produce and seek jobs. With sufficient incomes, parents will have more resources to invest in the education of their children, such as paying for school fees, textbooks, uniforms, and transport costs.

Roads also contribute to the establishment of more learning institutions in villages. Once access roads have been put in place, both public and private organizations will be encouraged to construct educational institutions in villages. As a result, more students will have access to quality education. It is important to note that roads should be well maintained after construction. Neglecting road maintenance may lead to poor road conditions.

Roads assume a very pivotal role in linking villages with the classroom environment. They minimize distances and maximize convenience. In the case of villages of Baramulla, a more road has brought a whole new meaning into the lives of its students. This task which was thought to be difficult at one point in time has turned into a routine activity. Roadways may appear to be just pathways meant for vehicular movement, but they are so much more than that to most children. Roads lead to the roadways of wisdom and success for all those who get them linked to their communities.

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