Badagola village lies about 80 kms north-west of the city of Cuttack, Odisha. It’s a small community of just over 200 people, most of whom are daily wage
labourers. There is a single Anganwadi in the village to cater to 13 children of preschool going age. The school has seen dedicated service by Ms Sukanti Sethi who has taught at the school for 18 years! The present version of the school building lacked a boundary walland was adjacent to an electric transformer. The school is located near cashew nut forests making it prone tofrequent unwanted visits by the local wildlife.
Furthermore, it is also amidst the way of all the loading vehicles which go through the village. All these make the conditions of the building hazardous and unfit for fostering an educational environment.
This issue was first noticed by Ms Saumyashree Sahu, a community mobilizer of Madhabpur Gram Panchayat. ILP works with, funds and guides workers like her through their outreach programs.
( Figure 2: Anganwadi premises)
She raised this issue with other Anganwadi members and with the help of Ms Kainta Khatua, another teacher, arranged a meeting with all the members of Matru and Janch committee mid April of 2020. Aside, in Odisha these committees are responsible for successful implementation and delivery of various schemes and programmes associated with the region’s Anganwadi [1].
Bari naik, the chief of the Matru committee and a local ward member was handed the responsibility of bringing the attention of Gram Panchayat to this matter.
The committees organized another meeting on 6th June 2020 which involved all the local stakeholders and the village’s Sarpanch. The meeting involved the village Duari Panda, chief of the Janch committee Niranjan Senapati, Ghanti Parida Prasanta Sethi and Ms Saumyashree Sahu. A sum of Rs 100, 000 was sanctioned for this project.
The work for the wall began around July 2020 and was completed timely by September 2020 under the supervision of Mr Dinesh Singh, contractor of the Illirisinga village.
( Figure 3: School premises post erection of boundary wall)
This is a great real world example of how seemingly trivial projects can be massively impactful for children in remote rural areas. Besides dedication to the cause of education and learning, it highlights the need for nurturing of the younger generation by lifelong teachers. Finally, we shed light on the fact that problem solving at the grass roots level is driven by teachers and community organizers with grit, empathy, determination and resilience and are essential to ensuring that the solution sees the light of the day. This story also emphasizes the fact that ILP’s interventions for the forward progress of learning is myriad in nature and effective.
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