Promoting education among tribal girls in Tripura

AGARTALA - Every social being needs basic academic knowledge of ‘three-Rs’-Reading, Writing and Arithmetic to become a resourceful human for the well being of the entire society.

In this context the Government of India’s ‘education for all’ has played a key role sans barriers of colour, caste, and creed and thus let every child exercise the fundamental right to education.

To provide education to the under-privileged girls, predominantly of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes and other minority groups of Tripura, the Government of India has initiated the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalya (KGBV) scheme.

The scheme attempts to get the girls of families who until the other day were a marginalized lot, to be at par with fast changing 21st century and lighten up their future with basic education. Of the seven schools opened under the KGBV scheme in Tripura, one is located at Dhamcherra, an educationally backward block in the state.

It has 50 students on its rolls. All the girls who study in KGBV are from poor BPL families and dropout who do have the financial sources to pursue their education.

“Girls from this type of families are kept in the hostel and given all free facilities for their educational upliftment. KGBV girls study here with the students of general school but they (KGBV girls) are doing better result and improving gradually as they get extra care in their hostel, said Ramendra Chandra Nath.

Many among these students were school dropouts because of poor financial conditions. Nonetheless, to bring these dropouts at par with the other regular students, the school has specially appointed teachers to train them in what they missed earlier.

Thanks to the scheme of ‘Education for All’, these students are provided with free school uniforms, books, food and lodging as well as apt facilities to study and play. Alongside, these girls are taught the basics in computer knowledge and enable them to keep pace with the modern trends around the world.

In tune with the adage ‘All work and no play makes jack a dully boy’, facilities to play outdoor and indoor games like volleyball, handball, kho-kho, carrom and chess exist.

Regular Yoga classes are an additional bonanza for balanced psycho-physical development. The girls are also being trained in various vocational skills, which in due course could be of immense help to them in being self-reliant.

Sagarika Reang a student of this school said: “Ihail from a Jhumia family and had to leave my education due to poverty. Then I joined KGBV and started my education again. Here we not only get free education but also learn computer, Yoga, handicrafts and other useful things.

We also get extra coaching so that we can do well. I am very happy after joining here and hope to do better in my future,” she added.

A teacher Ratna Debnath said: “Here most of the students are form very poor background and many are even orphaned and homeless. After coming here we found that they are not able to understand what is being taught at school. So we give them remedial coaching in the hostel.”

“We repeat what is being taught in the school and they have shown great improvement. There are also facilities for yoga, games, vocational training and computer education. We hope they will be very successful in the future,” she added.

There has been an overwhelming response to KGBV scheme and the credit goes to the progressive syllabi designed by the Education Department. Under the KGBV scheme, Government has sanctioned 2573 schools and nearly 1.96 lakh girls have enrolled in these schools.

A notable feature of the KGBV scheme is the families in remote and isolated areas being motivated to send their girl children to school. To ensure that literacy rates are raised, the government has also taken allied initiatives like Mid Day Meals, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Saakshar Bharat among others. By Pinaki Das (ANI)