In remote Indian village, teacher turns walls into blackboards to close school gap

Children, who do not have access to internet facilities and gadgets, use microscopes as they attend an open-air class outside houses with the walls converted into black boards following the closure of their schools due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Joba Attpara village in Paschim Bardhaman district in the eastern state of West Bengal, India, September 13, 2021. Picture taken September 13, 2021. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

PASCHIM BARDHAMAN, (INDIA), (Reuters) - In a small tribal village on the eastern tip of India, an enterprising teacher has turned walls into blackboards and roads into classrooms, trying to close the gap in learning brought on by prolonged school shutdowns in the country.

Deep Narayan Nayak, 34, a teacher in the tribal village of Joba Attpara in Paschim Bardhaman district of the eastern state of West Bengal, has painted blackboards on the walls of houses and taught children on the streets for the past year. The local school shut down after strict COVID-19 restrictions were imposed across the country in March 2020.