“Dear Mamata didun (dear grandmother Mamata), I am five years old. I stay in Asansol and my mother is a primary teacher in Uttar Dinajpur. I stay with my father and grandfather, but I miss my mother a lot. It really hurts me to stay without my mother. Kindly send my mother back home soon, I love her a lot.”

This is what five-year-old Aitijhya Das from Asansol wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Das’s mother, Swagata Pain, has been teaching at a primary school in Uttar Dinajpur since 2021. The distance between the school and her house in Asansol is around 450 kilometres, making regular commute impossible. Her son stays in Asansol with his father, a Central government employee, and his 80-year-old grandfather and Das is primarily taken care of by a maid

Speaking to The Indian Express, Pain said, “I teach in a primary school, I teach other children, but my own child is deprived of his mother’s love. I have written several times but in vain. Our entire batch of teachers has been posted in schools very far from home.”

According to Swagata, out of 16,500 primary teachers recruited in 2021, around 6,000 were allegedly posted away from their native places. “Not only me, but there are thousands who have been posted far away. Primary school teachers are generally posted near their houses. We have written to various departments, including the CM, for transfer,” she said.

Swagata once tried keeping her son with her in Uttar Dinajpur, but his asthma worsened in the weather there. He was critically ill once, after which the family decided he should remain in Asansol. “I am surprised that this idea came to his mind. He actually used to see me write to the Chief Minister or talk to my husband that I have written to the CM. Only she can help me. Probably, this is why he has written to her,” she added.

Her biggest regret, she said, is missing her son’s milestones. “My heart aches seeing him grow up so fast. I am missing out on his childhood. I know he is hurt when I am unable to stay for sports day or any school function of his. When he is very hurt then he cries and tells me how much he misses me.”

Aitijhya told this newspaper, “I have written a letter to the Chief Minister so that my mother can come closer to me. I know only Mamata Didun can bring my mother closer. If my mother comes back to me, I will write another letter to her saying, ‘Dhonnobad (thank you), Mamata didun (grandmother).’”

The family now hopes that the Chief Minister will intervene and grant a special transfer so Swagata can live closer to her son.