Vadodara: The distance between tribal-dominated villages of Kukarda and Mankad Amba is barely a km, but technically they are different taluka and districts. However, the two villages had something in common until a couple of years ago. Schools here were on the verge of closure for want of students.
However, in last two years, the education scenario has seen a complete turnaround. The schools were not just saved from downing shutters, but the government has also planned to start class IX and class X in the school at Mankad Amba.
This sea change in these two remote villages surrounded by hillocks on the border of Chhota Udepur and Narmada districts was possible due to Sahyog Chhatralay founded by Alpesh Barot, a social worker from Saurashtra, in 2016. Barot had visited Kukarda, a village situated in Naswadi taluka of Chhota Udepur, in 2011 for a UNICEF project, but seeing education of children suffer due to migration, moved him so much that he established a hostel so that the kids don’t have to roam around the state with their parents.
Barot started the hostel with just five students, but today the number has reached 55, which has not only reflected in the rolls of the school but also their performance. “Earlier, most students couldn’t read or write, but now more than 50% are able to do so. Within a year, we are aiming that all of them are able to read and write,” said Barot.
Four months back, the hostel was shifted from Kukarda to Mankad Amba, but students continue to study in both schools. However, their informal education continues at the hostel.
“It may sound like tuition classes, but what we teach here is completely different. The culture in which these students are brought up is completely different and therefore we teach them through games, folk songs, dance and other interesting activities,” Barot said.
“I cannot guarantee that these kids will become doctors or scientists, but our aim is that the student becomes a good human being and does not have to go through the hardship as their parents suffer,” said Barot.
Community teaching is equally important’
For Alpesh Barot, imparting education is not only limited to students. Barot and his Lok Sahyog Trust organize workshops around Holi when tribals return to their natives. During these workshops, the elders are made to understand the vice of child marriages and not sending girls to school. “It is very important to convince them that we are amongst them because the practices of child marriage and not sending girls to school are ages old therefore we have to imbibe this fact into them slowly,” said Barot. He added that community teaching is equally important the situation will not change just by educating kids.
Barot along with the locals
