: How a local-to-local education strategy worked out for students of rural Odisha #IndiaNEWS #Metro Bhubaneswar: Ten-year-old Abha* got a break from her routine when the primary school of Katimaha village,

How a local-to-local education strategy worked out for students of rural Odisha #IndiaNEWS #Metro
Bhubaneswar: Ten-year-old Abha* got a break from her routine when the primary school of Katimaha village, under Tikabali block, was ordered shut due to the Covid-19 outbreak. A student of Class 5, Abha was initially happy about it because it felt like a vacation. Little did she know that this supposed holiday would be prolonged to limits she had neither expected nor wanted.
Katimaha in Odishas Kandhamal district is 31 km from Phulbani, the district headquarters. Over 90. 14 per cent of the district population is recognised as rural, in a region thats still struggling to raise its female literacy rate from 51. 94 per cent at present.
Abha was unaware of the toll the pandemic would have on her familys financial standing. Her textbooks remained packed in her school bag, and she became her mothers permanent helper with household chores.
Such was the state of affairs even after the Odisha government had launched online education initiatives to facilitate learning from home during the lockdown. The Shiksha Sanjog Programme, a WhatsApp-based digital learning platform, as well as radio classes and YouTube live streaming were adopted to keep children connected with their education.
However, Abha was a textbook case of the rural-urban digital divide and how students were affected by it. Challenges of poor teledensity, lack of internet infrastructure in forested regions and peoples financial distress fell through the cracks when these online modes of education were designed.
I didnt have a smartphone or television in my house to study through the governments digital programmes, said the 10-year-old, whose parents were supportive of her education but lacked the means. They arent educated enough to help me cope with my lessons. I was on my own to handle it.
The Mo Chatashali model
Recognising the need of the hour, Delhi-based NGO Atmashakti Trust, along with its allies Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebi Mancha, Odisha, developed an alternative, more inclusive model, Mo Chatashali. Named after an Odia phrase that translates to my school in English, Mo Chatashali offered remedial education by conducting face-to-face classes for underprivileged children who didnt have access to online classes.
Mid August in 2020, the trust and its allies ran a pilot programme, Mission 3-5-8, a campaign to provide remedial classes for 4,364 students in 17 districts.
The outcome of this campaign was encouraging, as children were found to be doing better academically after taking remedial classes, said Ruchi Kashyap, executive trustee of Atmashakti. That motivated us to do more, after which we launched the Mo Chatashali initiative to cater to the educational needs of these rural kids.

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