Supporting education in Jharkhand
From 26 to 30 March 2009 Summerton conducted talks in Hazaribagh encouraging ex-students and current students in their vision for rural reconstruction and an allround education.
Speech given in Hazaribagh in 2009 by Fr Oswald Summerton S.J.
Memories of T.T.I. (Teacher Training Institute, Hazaribagh)
It was the spring of 1962 and I had just completed my Theology studies at St Mary’s Kurseong. I was headed for priestly ministry in Mahuadanr and on the way there I stopped at St Xavier’s Hazaribagh to help out with Holy Week liturgy and Easter. I was deep into the fun and frolic of Easter celebrations on Sunday evening when I received a tap on the shoulder from Fr. Ted O’Connor. Fr Ted had just been moved from Principal of T.T.I to Provincial of Hazaribagh. I asked him what he wanted and he promptly replied, “As of tomorrow you are Principal of T.T.I.” Gone were my dreams of Mahuadanr and that night I unpacked to remain in Hazaribagh little realizing what an eventful and happy life lay ahead for me in the TTI.
On Easter Monday, Fr Ted installed me at the Principal’s desk of T.T.I. and introduced to to great Jesuits there, Fr Kamal Kunjur the Prefect-in-charge and Brother Aloysious Toppo as Fields-in-charge and Fr Mourice Ba’a, an exceptional diocesan priest from Ranchi who looked after the spiritual needs of the trainees. In addition was Ethelbert Ekka who was the senior teacher of the students, Enamel Haque who was faithful advisor to the Principal on every issue under the sun and, Bansi Ram who collected the daily food scraps from St X for the pigs among other animal husbandry chores, Johan who looked after the chucks in the deep litter where eggs where produced in profusion every day, except on Mondays. We found out later that this was because Johan went to Church on Sundays and the hens did not get fed! The litter system protected the hens from visiting leopards, whose presence was signaled by the dogs barking from the verandah of the classrooms.
Let me tell you one or two stories of those days. During my time at T.T.I., the problem of stipends for the trainees was cleared up. I made a trip to the office of the DEO (District Education Officer) to complain that the stipends were not being paid and this was the cause of a lot of difficulties for our trainees. The clerk at the office was very adamant that clauses in the relevant documents did not permit release of the payments. I went back and studied the clauses he referred to and found that he was right. However, when I read the whole I discovered that in spite of those clauses, the payments had to be made. I went back and argued the issue with him. He relented and the stipends were sent to us.
Because of the grant to the programme of education of post-graduate teachers in agriculture there was a lot of questioning of the T.T.I as an institution. There were questions asked as to what had happened to the materials, the animals, the money, etc. I had to go to Patna for that and to my surprise met a very informed officer, the Deputy Commissioner of Education for the whole of Bihar who told me that the problem had arisen simply because of a missing signature. “Here, on this document, there is no signature.” I responded, “If I sign here, will that be accepted?” “Ofcourse you may sign Father,” he smiled. And after duly signing with a flourish, the problem was solved and the T.T.I. course was freed from further investigation and harassment.
There was another incident that had many dramatic turns and concerned the fixing of the boundaries of the property. Some of the trainees had retaliated with an accurate shot at a Nawah who had said some rather unkind words to Fr. Peter. The Nawah had fainted and sank beyond sight, submerged in the water of the very paddy field that he was claiming as his own. Fr. Peter called his brother to fish him out, but soon found that the brother was holding him underwater instead of saving him. We finally got him out of his predicament but the aftermath of all this took some months to unwind and unravel. I took the brunt of the affair and stepped up our cause as a result of which I had to face a nocturnal court in a nearby village. I survived this round through sheer wit and metaphor, by the grace of God. I had to face the same issues in another court in Patna for the final verdict where we were able to secure our rights. Finally the land was declared as our property.
We tried to improve the rice production with Japanese methods but found these were not suitable to indigenous conditions. However we were successful by using extra nitrogen. The rice once grew to seven feet and visitors took souvenirs of the tall rice back with them to Patna. There were some funny times too. I was delighted to drive the tractor and the first time I took it out, Brother Aloysious Toppo was perched on the top cover and as I turned the first corner he slip off into the mud. I was very upset, but relieved when I saw him get up, shake the dust off and climb back on without batting an eyelid.
However soon it was necessary for me to go abroad to London for a post graduate certificate in Education, and Wales for spiritual training. On my return, I was posted to Bokaro for pastoral work which was very satisfying. Then I was suddenly posted back to T.T.I. I was very happy to be back, and continued my learnings in agriculture.
Two weeks into my second stint at T.T.I., I went to the office of the LRDC Land Reforms Deputy Commissioner in answer to his summons. I explained what had happened in that area and he said, “Father as a matter of fact I sent you because the government was going to send a platoon of police to bring peace in your area, but this decision was withdrawn by a few days, because after you came, peace has come to the area.” I thanked God that I had received the wisdom to do what I had done to solve the issues of the surrounding local communities at that time. I treasure my days in the T.T.I. and am grateful for all the support I received and the team work that made the programmes so eventful and successful. I was sent to Delhi for a wider mission and have since seen the T.T.I. grow from strength to strength.
Today, there is a special leadership role for the T.T.I. to play as farmers the world over are under siege and indigenous agriculture is under threat. In this scenario, with genetically modified organisms coming into the fray, with Bt Brinjal already in our markets, and the dangers posed by privatization of water and other multinational injustices, there is a lot to learn and struggle for. A few weeks ago in our Delhi centre we had the screening of Mahesh Bhatt’s recent movie called “Poison on our platter” which equates the GM foods to the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and tells us how to strategise for safe food. I have brought a copy of the movie for you to watch and also a flier which has the photograph of one of our eco-community TA activists. It is a theological imperative to save our earth and her resources, to commit ourselves to ecological recovery, to what is organic, natural and wholesome, to what will make amends for the destruction already caused to our environment, to what makes for peace between peoples. In pursuit of these campaigns I wish the T.T.I. the very best of God’s graces and protection in the decades to come.