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Our school children and communities

I hope you are doing fine

I hope you are doing fine.

It was a tough year for all of us. Our school children and communities are still feeling the impact but have found innovative ways to succeed. Read ahead to find out how.

The year 2020 was an unusual time of extraordinary discord. But there were bright spots People standing up to support each other and Organisations finding new ways to overcome the challenges. We would like to share some of our moments that helped us keep going.

Standout performances from players like Somni, Pooja, and Ambika, coupled with exceptional displays by Manisha and Captain Akansha Narte in the first match, contributed to a fantastic overall team experience. As we address identified weaknesses and nurture our attacking instincts, the team is poised for future success, setting their sights on conquering the competition in the upcoming year. The Subroto Cup has laid the foundation for a promising journey ahead

We adopted technology to continue teaching our school children who had to go back home to their villages during the pandemic. But the struggle for many of our school children was access to technology itself. It was a huge challenge for us to keep up the momentum of studies going via remote learning in the rural areas, especially for the high schoolers.
Some of the challenges faced by our schools are :
  • Only 265 children of the total of 550+ from Grade 9 to Grade 12 in the Mohgaon Government high school had mobile access. And a mere 50 out of these 265 children would respond daily on an average on the WhatsApp group.
  • Only 77 students of the 158 pre-schoolers of RNS had access to study material on WhatsApp. And. we could not verify the accessibility to studies for these 51 preschool students.

    • The student engagement numbers were really disheartening. But we put in extra efforts to reach out to our students.
  • We sent worksheets and textbooks to children in their villages along with the concerned teacher’s phone number.
  • Children were encouraged to complete the school assignments and submit and call the teacher, in case of any questions.
  • Our teachers created audio content in the local language (stories) for pre-schoolers and early primary classes.
  • All the high schoolers got lots of projects to keep them occupied with studies.
  • We also distributed 1 sweater and 2 t-shirts to every child from the community shelter home from the donation funds.

    • All children had to take up at least 1 life skill project, where they learnt to make things of utility like bamboo articles, pickles, jams, hand wash, neem oil and many different things by using locally available materials. They also learnt to document the entire process.

    RAJA HRIDAY SHAH GOLDEN BABY LEAGUE - OUR SPORTS INITIATIVE

    We have started the Golden Baby League, this year to address the problem of lack of learning opportunities for students. Under the league, football matches are being held between different village teams every Sunday in the U10 and U13 age groups. There are no spectators for these matches and they are entirely organized, managed, and run by the children and staff of RNS and Mrida.
    All matches are held in strict compliance with COVID guidelines and are approved by AIFF. So far, we have conducted 30 matches over 4 Sundays with 100 more to go.

    KHETI SHIKSHA KE LIYE - OUR SUSTAINANBILITY INITIATIVE

    We have been ideating on a self-sustainable model to raise finances for Mrida’s development programs for some time now. For that, we plan to leverage our deep ties with the local Adivasi farmers whose children study at RNS to cultivate medicinal plants and food forests on lands that have been lying fallow for many years. This year, along with 18 farmers, we are cultivating 40 acres (out of the > 1400 acres of land) to grow the medicinal crop of Ashwagandha.

    This initiative has created opportunities for labour work in the 5 villages at present and has helped farmers to utilize an otherwise idle resource (unused land) effectively. The farmers and their families too, work on the land as a contribution towards the education of their children. We plan to use 60% of the harvest net of costs to help support Mrida’s work and the rest will be paid to the farmers. Through such community participation models, we aim to generate 100% of the financial resources for our education and sports programs in the future. Till then, we continue to rely on our generous donors and patron’s support to sustain our innovative on-the ground development programs.

    Where to Next?

    We are making gradual progress towards getting things to normalcy since the relaxation of the lockdown. For those still studying from home, we continue to send worksheets and activity sheets. The senior children are back at the hostel. A total of 56 children from Grade 5 to Grade 8 are back in the community shelter home. We have resumed the Football practice along with academic classes for all of these students. We are gearing up for entry into the Indian League for the junior team. However, lack of infrastructure remains a concern, and building the school/academy campus is high on priority in 2021.

    This New year brings new challenges and new possibilities. We continue to fight our daily battles on many levels. Mrida team is busy, upbeat, and working on the ground with a positive mindset. We are ready to embrace the new normal. Hope you are too.

    If you are keen to help, email me at na***********@gm***.com or Call/WhatsApp on my number +91-90825 73590. Any help, small or big, will go a long way to build a skill-ready future for the children from impoverished families studying at Riverside Natural School managed by Mrida Education and Welfare Society.

    Have a Happy and a Healthy Year ahead.

    Priya Nadkarni | Founder – Mrida

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