Education

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.

Dablu Bingadika, a 7^th Std student, hails from Denganapayu village, which is a beautiful hilly area situated 1300m above MSL. The village got connected to the road network only a few months back. Dablu is a student of TRW Govt Residential School, 45km away from the village at Burja, Laxmipur. Their village school is non-functional and hence his parents Utra and Harso Bingadika has put him in the far away hostel school.

OSF’s Reading and Learning program is functional in the village since September 2020. This has made the family relieved that the children in the village are able to spend some useful time learning, even during the Covid days. Earlier Dablu and his friends were just whiling away their time and moving around the area. Daily, classes are held from 8AM to 10AM in their village except during the lockdown days. Only students from their village attends the classes. Sirma, is the teacher who is a 10^th Class passout.  Reaching 10^th class is a great milestone in their area. Dablu has access to the story books stocked in the OSF learning unit as well and he is a regular user.

Parents of Dablu are illeterate and never attended school, but they desire a great future for Dablu and his elder sister. They want their children to make the best opportunity of the facility which they feel is God given.

Natpurwa in Uttar Pradesh is known for the unexpected survival option practiced for many generations. There are welcome changes off-late led by those coming out of the trade. The village Pradhan reflects the will and wish of a large majority who desires a different, bright and healthy future for their children. On request from the village, OSF is assisting with the provision of education resources for children. A regular contact program is also on to encourage them to learn. Other learning resources are also being provided on a regular basis.

Rekha’s life took a tragic turn after her husband, her pillar of strength, succumbed to a stroke eleven years ago. Bereft of much support of near and dear ones, she took to working for minimum wages at a garment factory. Suffering with Asthma, her lungs unable to handle the dust, she soon quit and had to eke out a living for her and the two children by working as a housemaid in many houses.

Her income was barely enough to feed the family and keep them off the roads. The little help that she got from family members was not enough to cover the school fees. Sadly, the schools did not even think of providing some concession to this single-parent family. Unable to see the struggles of his mother, the son stopped school in the 10th standard and began working odd jobs to supplement the income and also keep his sister Jayashree in school. The brother sacrificed his future for the sake of the family, not even thinking of going to government school as it would hinder his earnings. Even this noble gesture was not enough, and her education and future were in jeopardy. She had to change schools just to avoid discontinuing her studies.

It was at this hopeless juncture that Operation Sahay Foundation, stepped in to help this family through Project Cruse, a support scheme for such single-parent families and their children, orphans, and others in challenging situations. Rekha and her son’s deepest desire, was for Jayashree to be able to pursue her studies. Now with timely help from OSF reaching them on a monthly basis, the family is able to move ahead. She was on the verge of being forced to follow the path of her brother in taking up some low paying job. Jayashree is happy and grateful to OSF for coming forward and helping her continue pursuing her studies.