Towards better and healthier education for all tribal children: Pioneering ‘bag- free schools’ in Wayanad – Kerala

Uravu | Tribal education and customs in Wayanad >>
Photo © Ludwig Pesch
Wayanad song by Kanavu music group >>

Kozhikode: A school in Wayanad, where majority of students hail from tribal and other economically weaker sections, has set a model by doing away with school bags. While lugging heavy school bags has been a daily burden to students elsewhere, the pupils of Serve India Adivasi Lower Primary School (SALPS), Thariode go to school with just a notebook in hand. […]

The school authorities decided to bid adieu to bags after finding that they were causing hardships and even health issues to students.

SALPS was declared a ‘bag- free school’ last week by adopting a very simple and ingenious method. The school authorities provided an extra set of textbooks to all the students, which they keep at home.

Also, the teachers and the PTA raised money to buy shelves in all classrooms, for students to keep their textbooks and notebooks along with their pencil boxes, lunch plates etc. The school authorities also provided free pencil boxes to all students to be kept inside their classrooms. […]

Source: “Here is how a Wayanad school dumped school bags”, Times of India 3 February 2019
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67823049.cms
Date accessed: 5 January 2019

“Cover Your Country” by PARI: Rural people speak about their lives through photos, narratives, film, and audio materials >>

Video | “I saw women working 90 per cent of the time. They did backbreaking jobs for which you need an erect spine,” says P. Sainath in Visible Work, Invisible Women: Bricks, coal and stone | RuralIndiaOnline.org >>

In Marginalised but not Defeated, Tarun Kanti Bose (a seasoned public interest journalist) asserts that “the mainstream development paradigm is being questioned and new rainbows of collective, community reassertions are happening across the tribal belt in India. More so, in most cases, led by brave, empowered and resilient women.” | Learn more: https://countercurrents.org/2023/05/book-review-marginalised-but-not-defeated >>

“In less than 200 years, photography has gone from an expensive, complex process to an ordinary part of everyday life. From selfies to satellites, most of the technology we use and spaces we inhabit rely on cameras. […] While photographic documentation can aid in shaping history, it can also be a window into the horrors of the past.” – Read more or listen to Butterfly Effect 9 – The Camera on CBC Radio Spark 26 May 2023 >>

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