Kerala teacher Ali Ashqar joins remote Arunachal village school near China border
· India · Times of India, LiveMint
Kerala native Ali Ashqar, 28, moved over 3,000 kilometres to Karo in Shi-Yomi district, Arunachal Pradesh, near the India‑China border, to teach at NSCBAV School, which has 102 students and suffers from landslides and unreliable electricity. He travelled from Areekode in Kerala’s Malappuram district, bringing teaching experience from Punjab, Puducherry and Kashmir, and completed his master’s studies in Shi-Yomi before the school’s posting in 2022. The school, previously facing dropout rates and a possible closure, now has 128 teachers and community support after Ashqar’s arrival, and student Onam celebrations have turned viral after being filmed on camera. The remote village’s harsh conditions include poor roads, frequent landslides and limited electricity, yet Ashqar’s work continues despite the lack of basic services.
Why it matters
His assignment helps stabilise a crumbling rural school that was losing students and serves as a lifeline for the 102 children in an isolated border area. Ashqar’s presence also highlights the challenges of teacher deployment in frontier regions and the community’s reliance on dedicated educators. The viral Onam videos have drawn national attention to the plight of remote Indian schools and the need for better infrastructure in border districts, prompting possible policy focus on remote teacher
Read the original report — Times of India
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