These 78 students have a legacy to uphold — the 100% pass that their peers scored in 2018 fighting odds such as the lack of support from their family members. But for the volunteers of Yes India, who held their hand and guided them, it would have been an impossible dream for most of them who hail from three coastal villages in the district — Nainamvalappu, Chaliyam and Vellayil.
Th children, appearing for SSLC examination on Wednesday, were trained under Akshara Samudram, a project of Yes India, a non-political student organisation. The project that started in 2014 has been able to hand-hold around 100 students in coastal villages so far.
Under the project, teens are guided in their studies and career choices by older students, mostly undergraduates who are volunteers of Yes India. It started when Yes India volunteers noted that most students from coastal areas did not make it in the SSLC examination, and even if they did, they could not go for higher studies. Besides, the dropout rate in lower classes was also high. An extensive survey that followed found that factors such as poverty, lack of awareness, child marriage, and societal pressure to be the breadwinner for family at a young age were behind the poor educational standards in the region.
They started by adopting Mukhadar, a small fishing village near Kozhikode South beach. At first, it was a difficult task for volunteers to convince local people. However, support from some well-known individuals in the region and local clubs helped them win the trust of families soon. As they could help 13 students from the village to score well in the examination, they gained support from other nearby villages in the next year. In 2018, all 60 students from Nainamvalappu, Kothi, Vellayil and Chaliyam passed SSLC, with the support of Yes India volunteers.
“This year, we conducted a crash course of around two months before the exams. Subject experts were roped in to provide intensive training to the students who needed special coaching in certain subjects,” said Harishankar S. Nair, Project Director of Akshara Samudram.
Yes India now plans to extend the project to the tribal belt in Wayanad. “Our job will be tougher there. We will have to face larger obstacles. But students there need the same kind of attention and support that we provided to those in the coastal belt,” he said.
There are also plans to extend the project to more coastal villages. A qawwali night has been planned on March 31 to raise funds for the seventh phase of the project.