“This school has less than 20 kids now. There’s an order to shut the school as the number is well below the cut-off level fixed 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.