Education and health care for Bhil communities affected by drought, debt, illiteracy and early marriage: A school mobilizes teachers and experts from medical and engineering fields – Maharashtra

Ranjana Diggikar, Times of India, Nov 7, 2013 | To read the full article, click here >>

AURANGABAD: In a bid to reach out to tribal children in the region, some community organizations and NGOs started Bal Anand Jeevan Shala (BAJS) last month, where 22 bhil-adivasi children from Manyad River basin forest area of Vaijapur taluka in the district are receiving education without break.

“On the backdrop of drought, debt, illiteracy, ignorance and early marriage in the region, the children from bhil-thakar-pardhi adivasi community are enjoying full-time education without break. These children have seen a school for the first in their lives. The BAJS, a community school for children from families which migrate for eight months as harvest labourers towards western and northern part of Maharashtra and Gujarat, has been established at Bhimgad village. The BAJS will provide education to children between the age group of 6 and 12. Community organization Loksamiti and NGO Lokparyay (Aurangabad) has taken the initiative in association with Community Development Trust (CDT) and ActionAid, Mumbai,” said Mangal Khinwasara, chairman of Loksamiti-Lokparyay.

Loksamiti-Lokparyay has decided to make right to education and health its prime agenda. The tribals, dalits and nomadic tribes are still lagging behind in the socio-economic front. The Manyad river basin and forest area, just 60 km from Aurangabad, is known for the deaths of tribal women and children due to malnutrition since 2001. Hence, the government had designed a special programme by establishing ‘Rajmata Jijau mother-child health and nutrition mission” during 2001. Loksamiti-Lokparyay along with CDT, ActionAid and the government started focusing on these issues,” Khinwasara said. […]

“BAJS is not a formal school. The children are first made to attend schools run by the zilla parishad or other institutions. After their school hours, they are brought to Bhimgad hall at Tantya Bhilnagar in Parala village. The teachers – Mangal Sonavane, Gorakh Sonavane, Subhash Pawar and Raju Bagul – impart different skills to the children,” he added.

“The NGO has decided to mobilize about 60,000 children from Aurangabad district under this campaign. It has been observed that some senior educationists, teachers and experts from medical and engineering fields are extending help towards this mission,” Khinwasara said.Aurangabad district under this campaign. […]

Source: Thanks to NGOs, tribal children can now avail full-time education – The Times of India
Address : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/aurangabad/Thanks-to-NGOs-tribal-children-can-now-avail-full-time-education/articleshow/25340490.cms
Date Visited: Mon Oct 05 2015 18:36:47 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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Right to Education

282 million illiterate Indians: Education waits for the Big Bang

Even after six decades of independence, literacy continues to be a huge challenge for the country.

Saumya Tewari, IndiaSpend.com  · Feb 25, 2015

You would think a country of 282 million illiterate people and an ambition to become one of the world’s leading economies would invest more in education. But despite a growing annual budget, India just does not do enough. […]

IndiaSpend has previously discussed the low quality of school education, based on the Annual State of Education Reports (ASER); gaps between public and private schools and across classes; how school education in India stutters on enrolment, teachers and infrastructure and higher education.

We also found 38% vacancies in central government universities across India. With these state of affairs, the question we must pose: Are we spending enough on education?

The simple answer: No. […]

Source: 282 million illiterate Indians: Education waits for the Big Bang
Address : http://scroll.in/article/709287/282-million-illiterate-indians-education-waits-for-the-big-bang
Date Visited: Tue Oct 06 2015 18:41:46 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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