Village case

  In the block of Sakaran there is a village named Kamariya Khunkhun. This village is located about 8 kms away from the Biswa district. Education in this district is not booming but some people are educated. On the first visit to the village, we realized that education in the village is directly related to the economic status of the family. The families with lower income have almost zero educated members while the families with higher status due to higher earning have at least all educated male members. Most of the kids of lower income status families are to be found in the fields working as farmers or grazing cattle. Though there are primary and secondary schools in abundance in the village, the kids prefer to stay home and work in the fields.

    The preparation for Pratham ECE Mela started from the month of April 2018. Our programs with the usage of tablet has been going on in this village for two years now. We at Pratham have been performing various activities like painting walls of the villages, creating rallies and walking all over the villages, arranging parent-teacher meetings etc. all over the village to spread the word about us and our endeavor to provide quality education. Our efforts have paid back as the entire village is aware of us now and is more actively in support of us as compared to the time we first set foot in the village with our activities and objectives. This active support is much more visible through the participation rate of the villagers in our recent ECE Mela program. ECE was the first time someone made an effort to educate kids before they enter school.

      Initially the villagers were reluctant to attend this gathering as they thought it would be a waste of time since education at any level costs money. They thought we would make a onetime effort and leave. Later, they would not know how to continue to teach their kids or maybe we would ask the parents to buy materials to support education of the kids. When explained the entire procedure in local language with lots of assurance, the parents finally signed up for this program and made time to attend. When they finally attended the Mela they were glad to see our assessment methods. They saw how we use locally available objects to make kids guess their answers. When the mothers along with their kids were being handed over study material, they were given a brief on how to use the material and teach their kids they were rather relieved and could not wait to thank us for teaching them such simple methods of educating their kids and learn from the materials provided. During our follow up session we spoke to almost all the kids who appeared for the ECE Mela and seeing their progress we believe the kids are ready to go to school now.