Madapatna Grama, near Begur, is located 40 km South of Mysore. It is a quiet village dependant on farm income. As in other places, farm dependence exposes the farmer families to climatic vagaries. Crops fail at times, hopes get dashed! The families and children’s studies are affected.

For a child in rural settings, the joy of being in school, quality of academic performance and encouragement from home and school matters. It enables them carry-on to senior school and move to higher education. Unlike their city-school going counterparts, they are not blessed with proper academic resources and amenities. So they need proper nurturing to be confident and competant. If not, the stigma of being a “small town” person and discouragement could gradually set in.

In rural areas, parents find it difficult to give educational support at home. Local assistance is rarely available. Even if available, for many it is not affordable. As a result, children find it difficult to meet the learning targets. If they don’t get help at the right time in their school life, the pathway to higher education and even the ability to read, write and learn will be impacted. Therefore the isuue is something beyond ensuring regular attendance.

How can we help them? What would inspire them to think beyond to achieve a better life and a fulfilling future? What can uplift them to be successful and contribute to the development of their village?

OSF’s Solution – Sahay Shiksha Centres

Observing the imminent need for academic aid for these children, we launched “Sahay Shiksha Centre” at Madapatna in July 2019.

“This school has less than 20 kids now. There’s an order to shut the school as the number is well below thecut-off levelfixed by the Government. Can you do something? I see that you arranged for good School Kits through OSF in few other schools. If you can do a distribution here, maybe, we can encourage the kids as a last attempt to continue schooling.” These were the words of Mr.Niranjan Bagha of Narayanpatna education block.

Panabadi Village is a quiet community of 65 families, who are passionate farmers in the mountains. They practice slash and burn agriculture. The entire family including children participate. Parents therefore don’t see much value in schooling.

OSF arranged and distributed the School kits at a meeting iwhich was well attended by the village families. In the program, the necessity of education, regular attendance and completing education diligently was stressed by social worker, Mr.Ananta and the HM. The parents were apprised on the significance of sending children to school. Each child was presented a School kit. The school kits became a hit. “We saw an immediate change – the very next day onwards, more than 30 children started coming to school. I reported this to the Narayanpatna Block EO.” With 50% more than the benchmark level, this OSF initiative put a happy closure to the closure plans! The children still continue and the school is all alive.