Since the middle of October 2017, a 4,000-sq.ft. building at Marayur, Idukki, has been a home away from home for 32 tribal children. Hailing from 28 tribal settlements nearby these children had at various points of time dropped out of the formal schooling system. Now they are back into the system and are being part of the mainstream as part of an initiative by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA).
Titled Padanaveedu, the scheme is all about bringing such tribal children to a shelter and feeding and clothing them as they are reintroduced to the formal schooling system. Prior to the piloting of the scheme in Idukki, SSA district officials, along with tribal promoters and anganwadi workers, carried out a survey in 28 tribal settlements in the district.
They identified 26 students who had dropped out of school, including from different single-teacher schools, for various reasons. When they dropped out, these children were studying in classes five to ten. From one tribal settlement (Kulamankudi) at Neriamangalam alone six such children were identified. They were in their tenth standard when they dropped out of school.
SSA Idukki district project officer George Ignatius told The Hindu that persuading the parents to send their children to the Padanaveedu took some doing. “For their part the parents also know that their children need to be educated. Their traditional way of life is increasingly under threat. They do not want their children to live off the forest. At the same time these are people who love the forest and its ways of life,” he explained.
At the shelter in Marayur, the children are provided food by a team of Kudumbashree workers who come each morning to cook meals. Qualified teachers from tribal communities are at hand to teach these students English, Hindi, Malayalam and Mathematics. There is even space in the timetable for arts, craft and music classes. What’s more, as part of the ‘mainstreaming’ efforts 26 children from the Padanaveedu regularly attend two nearby schools: St. Mary’s Upper Primary School, Marayur, and Government Higher Secondary School, Marayur. The remaining six children in their Class 10 are being taught at the shelter itself and will most likely write the next SSLC examination.
SSA State director A.P. Kuttykrishnan told The Hindu that the abhiyan was buoyed by the success of the pilot scheme. “We have another Padanaveedu in Malappuram where 30 students are now housed. Next year we plan to scale up the scheme to the entire state,” he added.
