This story is from September 15, 2016

Youths turn tribal school into digital one

Youths turn tribal school into digital one
(Representative image)
Nagpur:
At first glance, the nondescript village of Januna in Popatkhed of Akola district, seems like a tribal locality minus any development. However, a visit to the local zilla parishad school will surprise you. Teachers educating pupils with the help of a projector, while students are also learning on computers is a little hard to believe from the topography of a tribal-dominated area, where even roads, sanitation, drinking water and power is a rarity.
A school with such hi-tech gadgets leaves you awestruck, thanks to efforts by the volunteers of ‘Yuva Rashtra Sanganthan’.
The young members of this organization collected funds for celebrating Ganesh festival and utilized it in a unique way by providing these hi-tech gadgets for the poor students from this tiny hamlet. Over 70 families responded to their call for making the school digital with the help of donations. The members, including Vilas Tathod, Avinash Nakat, Dr Nilesh Patil, and Dhananjay Mishra, entirely refurbished the small school, which was in a highly dilapidated condition, from the collected funds, by painting the building. They then installed a projector, a computer with software for teaching children above fifth standard, a public address system for in-house functions, apart from other facilities. The new system was inaugurated last Monday, on the auspicious occasion of the ongoing Ganesh festival.
‘Yuva Rashtra Sanganthan’ mostly comprises farmers’ children and was formed with an objective to help the distressed farming community and prevent them from committing suicides. Its members mostly consist of youths from suicide-hit belt of Yavatmal, Akola and Amravati districts.
“As our team was roaming in search of distressed farmers, a few months ago, we came across this school, which was in a bad shape. To our surprise, about 165 children, mostly Korku tribals, were present in the classroom while the remaining two failed to turn up due to ill-health. It was a rare sight to see almost full attendance in the classroom in this remote tribal area. When we interacted with the students, we found them to be brilliant and confident, and they were willing to learn,” says Tathod, one of Yuva Rashtra founder members.

Sadly, there were only three classrooms for accommodating such a large number of children. Moreover, only three teachers were available for teaching them as nobody wants to move to interior tribal areas. But kudos to its principal Dudhmara Barokar and his wife Sunita, who arrived from Beed way back in 2003, to impart coaching to these children of a lesser god, who’re deprived of even the basic facilities.
“Their plight moved us, and we decided to help them from the Ganesha donations. We clearly told the people that even though we’re collecting funds for the festivities, we would be donating this to the tribal school for turning it into the digital one. We convinced the donors that their little help would go a long way in shaping future of these poor tribal kids,” Tathod informs.
The children, who had never seen hi-tech gadgets, were on cloud nine and had shown keen interest in learning through new technology. However, it was not easy for the Barokar couple to convince the tribals’ for sending their kids to the school. They worked hard by visiting individual homes in this small village and explain them how education could help their children in securing a better future. The couple explained the concept with help of photographs and models, but everyone was not convinced. When they started in 2003, only 20 students were enrolled. It took them over a decade to reach figure of 167.
Box — Yuva Rashtra members plan to install video conferencing facility
The Yuva Rashtra members plan to install video conferencing facility in the school by collecting more funds. Their aim is to take help of good teachers from Akola and other districts to teach these tribal students through the facility. “Since top teachers couldn’t come to such remote areas, video conferencing would bridge this gap, just like top management institutes do. We’ve contacted many teachers and they’re ready to help us in this noble gesture,” Tathod explains.
The members have so far collected Rs60,000 and purchased all these gadgets from the funds. They now aim to collect Rs2.5 lakh for installing the video conferencing facility through various means. “We would be seeking help from the Akola citizens and corporates in our venture. We will request citizens from Vidarbha to help us in this noble initiative,” he says.
End of Article
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