Andhra's Forgotten Children: Students Wade Across Canal, Walk 4 Km Through Forests to Attend School in Solubongu

In the remote Solubongu village of Andhra Pradesh, school is not a location—it's a test of will, perseverance, and grit. Every day, children from 16 tribal families wade through the Raiwada canal on a boat and walk nearly 4 kilometers through hilly forest terrain to reach their school in Tamarabba village.

This horrific daily journey, chronicled in the present issue of Get Real India, reveals the stark educational inequalities that persist in large parts of India's tribal and rural areas. Lacking even a motorable road, a bridge, or a local school to their name, the education of these children is bought at the cost of bodily safety and Herculean physical toil.

The children, as young as six years old, daily encounter slippery paths, merciless wildlife, and unreliable climatic conditions all for the sake of accessing basic education. Despite several villagers' appeals, the state is apathetic and has not come up with concrete infrastructure projects to ease the children's journey.

"It is not a question of a long walk," explained one local mother. "They cross a canal in shaky boats, and there is no safety gear. Every day we worry—will our children come back in one piece?"

The plight of Solubongu's children indicates the urgent need for school facilities and transport infrastructure in remote pockets. Activists and the village leadership are insisting that the Andhra Pradesh government open a primary school in the village, or at least construct a bridge across the Raiwada canal to reduce the risks.

As India pushes digital classrooms and enhanced education, Solubongu's tribal children keep battling for access to blackboards and basic school benches. Their resilience is a sharp reminder that although policy promises inclusive education, implementation remains behind in the nation's most rural areas.